Deal erases college nearly $10 million in college loan debts held by nearly 3,000 Morehouse men

Nearly 3,000 alumni and current students of Morehouse College are set to benefit from the erasure of $9.7 million in debts they owed directly to the institution. Morehouse College, a private, all-male historically Black college in Atlanta, recently announced a significant step to relieve financial burdens by eliminating 2,777 accounts that were in collections. 

This effort is being carried out in collaboration with the Debt Collective, an organization dedicated to addressing student loan debt on a national scale. The debts in question encompass outstanding fees owed by the students to Morehouse, which often hindered their access to transcripts and diplomas. Some of these debts date back decades, while others are as recent as the fall 2022 term.

The Debt Collective, represented by Braxton Brewington, emphasized the pressing issue of student debt in the United States, especially for Black graduates of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The erasure of nearly $10 million in student debt is seen as a significant step toward improving the financial well-being of thousands of Black individuals, enabling them to save for retirement, purchase homes, or start small businesses.

As part of this arrangement, Morehouse College transferred the unpaid accounts to the Rolling Jubilee Fund, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Debt Collective. The Rolling Jubilee Fund specializes in acquiring and eliminating debt, and it paid $125,000 to acquire the Morehouse debt, which amounts to just over one cent on the dollar.

It’s important to note that the erasure of Morehouse debts does not affect federal student loans, a distinct category of debt owned by the federal government and not directly linked to the college.

The Debt Collective has previously succeeded in relieving student debt for other institutions. In the previous year, they erased around $2 million in debt for approximately 500 students who attended Bennett College, a liberal arts college for Black women in Greensboro, North Carolina.

This recent development is not the first time that Morehouse College graduates have received substantial financial assistance to ease the cost of their education.

In 2019, at their commencement ceremony, the graduating class was pleasantly surprised when billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off their student loans, with an initial estimated cost of up to $40 million.