Texas college students learn they are debt-free after anonymous donor pays loans

Students at a Texas university commencement ceremony on Saturday learned they were debt-free after an anonymous donor paid off what they owed the school, said Wiley College.

“You are debt-free. You do not owe the college a penny. If you have a balance, you had a balance,” announced the university’s president to cheers in a video tweeted by Wiley College in Marshall, Texas.

The approximately 100 graduates were informed their combined remaining balances of about $300,000 were taken care of by a donor who decided to keep their identity under wraps.

“We are constantly communicating with donors to assist students in these ways so that they can begin their after-college experience with less debt,” said school president Herman J. Felton Jr. in a statement.

“We are grateful for this anonymous donor who will assist the students in paying off their balances to Wiley College and help us achieve institutional goals of graduating our students with little to no debt.”

Tuition at the historically black university was lowered in past years to $17,500 a year — including tuition, fees, and room and board — to give more students access to an education, but some students still have a balance at graduation, the university said in a statement.