No more debt: Cape Central, Morehouse grad student loans paid by billionaire

Most college alumni struggle with paying off large student debts, but thanks to the generosity of billionaire Robert Smith, one local exception is Morehouse College graduate Stephon Keith.

Standing before nearly 400 soon-to-be graduates and alumni Sunday, 56-year-old Smith said, "This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans."

Keith was one of those students.

Originally from St. Louis, Keith moved to Cape Girardeau as an eighth grade student. He graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School in 2015.

"Honestly, the feeling was indescribable," Keith said by phone Wednesday. "We heard [Smith] say it, and it took a second for it to register in everyone's mind. When we finally caught on to it, it was like, 'Oh, OK, yeah, he really did say that. He really is gonna do this.'"

Keith estimated the average individual student loan accrued at Morehouse to be around $40,000 to $50,000, adding he personally knows someone within his class with student loans around $98,000.

He's still lost for words, Keith said, adding that coming from a family background with a single mother and two other siblings, he's a "first generation college student."

"At first I was going to go to Mizzou, and my mom kind of persuaded me to look into Morehouse ... and it just kind of shot off from there," Keith said. "I knew I was going to Morehouse."

Smith's gift has placed Keith in a position to accomplish his dream a lot quicker, Keith said.

That includes being able to give back, he explained, especially to his mother and his two nephews.

Keith first started out his academic career with a goal of one day becoming a cardiologist, but soon switched to majoring in economics.

He has a job secured in Chicago, working in health care consulting, Keith said.

His long-term goal is health care management with eventually operating his own business and being able to "reinvest into Cape Girardeau, reinvest into St. Louis."

Smith founded Vista Equity Partners and became the richest black man in America.

His estimated net worth is $5 billion, according to Forbes.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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