Donald Trump has never been known to do much for charity, but his longtime nemesis, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, is donating $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University in an effort to financially support low and middle-income families.
The gift, believed to be the largest private donation in modern times to higher education, is a landmark in a growing national movement to make elite universities more accessible to students from low-to-middle income families.
“America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” Bloomberg said in an announcement. “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 funds will be devoted exclusively to financial aid for low and middle-income students, with the overall goal of eliminating student loans in financial aid packages.
“That will make admissions at Hopkins forever need blind,” Bloomberg said. “It will allow the school to offer more generous scholarships. It will ease the burden of student debt for many graduates. And it will help open up the American dream to more young people.”
In years past, Hopkins President Ronald Daniels said, the university struggled to achieve its goal of welcoming all talented students regardless of their means or backgrounds.
“Our dedicated financial aid endowment was simply too small,” Daniels said. “Now, as a consequence of Mike Bloomberg’s extraordinary gift, we will be fully and permanently need-blind in our admissions and be able to substantially enrich the level of direct assistance we provide to our undergraduate students and their families.”
Bloomberg is a 1964 graduate from Johns Hopkins and had already given the university $1.5 billion before this donation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper noted that this latest gift is believed to be the largest donation to an academic institution of all time.
The announcement from Bloomberg comes as he gains growing scrutiny about a potential presidential bid.
He said last week that he plans to decide on wether he will run by February.
Regardless of what you think of his politics, Bloomberg is putting his enormous fortune to use for a good cause.