Michael Bloomberg Gives $1.8 Billion To Financial Aid At Johns Hopkins University
"In what is the largest individual donation ever made to a single university, former
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday that he is donating $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University to assist students with financial aid."
"The donation is designed to make the private research university in Baltimore both need blind and loan-free. 'Need-blind' means the school will no longer take financial need into account during the admissions process, instead focusing solely on the merit of the applicant. 'Loan-free' means the school will no longer package loans in their financial aid award letters, replacing that money with scholarships that don't need to be paid back."
"Bloomberg announced the donation in an op-ed published in The New York Times."
"America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook," he wrote. "Denying students entry to a college based on their ability to pay undermines equal opportunity."
"Bloomberg — who earned a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins in 1964, using federal student loans and a campus job to help pay his way — went on to urge donors both big and small to focus their philanthropic efforts on financial aid."