Philanthropist, business leader, and alumnus Michael R. Bloomberg—who helped pay his way through Johns Hopkins with a campus job and a federal loan—has committed $1.8 billion to ensure that countless others will be able to seize the opportunity of a Hopkins education without worrying about how they will pay for it.

Announced in November 2018, Bloomberg’s record-breaking gift to support undergraduate financial aid at Johns Hopkins is the largest-ever single contribution to a U.S. college or university. It has allowed the university to make a public commitment to need-blind admissions and eliminate student loans from need-based aid packages. Loan relief at the start of the spring 2019 semester totaled $6 million, benefiting more than 2,700 undergraduate students at Homewood and Peabody.

Bloomberg announced his gift in a New York Times op-ed in which he identified college affordability as a national challenge.

“America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” Bloomberg said. “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.”

Photo: Businessman and philanthropist Michael R. Bloomberg hosts Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Scholars in New York in 2017. Image credit: Bloomberg Philanthropies