Photo: Morgan Staty University
A successful businessman who 60 years ago was too poor to afford college tuition has donated $20 million to Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) in Baltimore.
This huge amount of money will help college students from disadvantage backgrounds obtain an education that will help them escape a cycle of poverty and create better futures for themselves and their communities. Baltimore in Maryland has one of the highest levels of poverty of any city in the United States.
Calvin Tyler had himself attended the traditionally black college in the 1960s but was unable to complete his education due to a lack of funds. Dropping out in 1963 he took a job as a UPS delivery driver. Through decades of hard work and determination Tyler reached the position of Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations and was seated on the UPS board of directors. He retired in 1998 to focus on philanthropy.
In 2016 Tyler and his wife, who run their fund together, gave $5 million to college undergraduates at the university. Now this year they have broken their own record donation by donating a further $20 million.
Tyler said that they were increasing their commitment due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, he states:
"This is why we are increasing our commitment. We want to have more full-tuition scholarships offered to young people so that they can graduate from college and enter the next stage of their life debt-free."
Morgan State President David Wilson said of the donation by the Tylers:
"Through their historic giving, the doors of higher education will most certainly be kept open for generations of aspiring leaders whose financial shortfalls may have kept them from realizing their academic dreams… The Tylers' generosity over the years, culminating with this transformative commitment, is a remarkable example of altruism with great purpose."
Student debt has been one of the biggest political questions in the United States for a number of years. College and University education is vastly more expensive than in the rest of the world and there are few state-subsidies. This means that even successful students are usually left with hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-worth of debt by the time they start their working lives.
[h/t: Good News Network]
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