Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is donating a record $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to fund financial aid for admitted low- and middle-income students.
“America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” Bloomberg announced in an opinion piece published Sunday in the New York Times. “Denying students entry to a college based on their ability to pay undermines equal opportunity. It perpetuates intergenerational poverty. And it strikes at the heart of the American dream: the idea that every person, from every community, has the chance to rise based on merit.”
The contribution from Bloomberg, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, supplements the $1.5 billion he has already given the Baltimore-based university to boost research, teaching, and financial aid since graduating in 1964. The founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies also used his op-ed to list the in-roads his foundation has made on a spectrum of education initiatives, including school counseling programs.
[Opinion: Michael Bloomberg has no chance of being the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee]
“Federal grants have not kept pace with rising costs, and states have slashed student aid. Private donations cannot and should not make up for the lack of government support,” Bloomberg wrote Sunday. “Together, the federal and state governments should make a new commitment to improving access to college and reducing the often prohibitive burdens debt places on so many students and families.”
The high-profile gift comes after Bloomberg spent more than $110 million ahead of the 2018 midterm cycle. The former New York City mayor released a $5 million advertising campaign featuring himself days before the Nov. 6 elections in which he urged voters to cast ballots for Democrats.
