A Qualitative Exploration of The Robert Smith Gift at Morehouse College

Previous scholars investigating the effects of student loan debt have conducted survey analyses involving large samples to examine the relationships among debt forgiveness, loan repayment behavior, income earnings, and returning home. Fewer works have explored the outcomes of student loan elimination in a qualitative study. In 2019, Robert Smith donated a Gift (RSGift) to the graduating class of Morehouse College, which eliminated the new graduates’ student loan debt, inviting further inquiry into their developments since receiving the gift. This study employs a qualitative investigation to examine how student loan elimination influenced the graduating classes. This study also applies Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth Model (CCW) to explore how student loan elimination through the RSGift affected the graduates’ capital acquisitions. Findings showed that eliminating student loan debt helped them navigate post-graduation as the RSGift removed social and economic barriers associated with accumulating student loan debt. This study should be used to expand research on student loan elimination for Black graduates, especially at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).