A billionaire will pay Morehouse students' debt, this reaction was priceless

You need only to watch the video of the moment to see that: Goodgame’s jaw plummets, his eyebrows jump to the brim of his graduation cap, and his eyes dart from side to side like he is searching — somewhere, anywhere — for comprehension.

When he finds that certainty — that this is indeed happening — his disbelief turns to pure joy. Still, it takes another moment for him to find his legs for a standing ovation.

Goodgame was seated behind Smith at the time of the announcement, because it is his job to raise money and keep graduates connected to Morehouse, the private, all-male, historically black college in Atlanta.

“I heard the words, but I just couldn’t believe it,” Goodgame, a 1984 Morehouse graduate and the college’s vice president for external relations and alumni engagement, said Monday morning. “I looked at the audience to see, and it was registering at the same time for all of us. When he said it, it was an authentic no-clue-at-all look.”

Goodgame, who has worked at Morehouse for 25 years, called it a “transformational moment” for his alma mater and one that could lead to greater recognition of the work of historically black colleges and universities.

“To have someone else say that the work our institutions do is worthy of investment and reinvestment is significant,” he said. “We have the population that is most vulnerable not to make it to 18. We show them you can have a fine education that is designed and built just for you, that’s more than just chemistry or physics.”

Goodgame said it cost him $5,000 a year to attend Morehouse in the 1980s. Now, full-time tuition at Morehouse is $25,368, and other expenses, including room and board, books and fees, can push the total cost of attendance above $48,000.

The son of a steelworker and a teacher who was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Goodgame said he understood that there was a “domino effect” on graduates when they could not make their first loan payment six months after graduation.

It can hurt their confidence and their credit score, he said, and they might decide to put off starting a family. “Now the dreams that they have do not have to be deferred,” he said.

More than 90% of Morehouse students receive some form of financial aid, according to the college, including scholarships, grants, work-study jobs and loans. About half qualify for Pell grants.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Education Department data, the majority of historically black college and university graduates have not paid down even $1 of their original loan balance in the first few years out of school. Their federal-debt load is about one-third higher than graduates of other public and nonprofit four-year schools.

Smith made a donation to Morehouse earlier this year to finance scholarships. He told the audience Sunday that his student loan-eliminating gift, intended for the 396 graduating seniors, was meant to set an example of paying forward.

“Shackling them with so much debt leaves so many clouds out there,” Goodgame said, alluding to the Morehouse College seal, which shows a rising sun above the clouds. “Now the clouds have rolled back, and the rain is gone. There is a clear path to success.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.