Smith, the founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, stunned graduating students and Morehouse administrators during the commencement ceremony at the private men’s college in Atlanta last May with his surprise announcement that he would pay off the loans. The program was developed after Robert F. The payments will be made through the newly established Morehouse Student Success Program, a scholarship, loan debt, research and educational initiative established by the college’s Board of Trustees “as a national investment strategy to curb student loan debt and help graduates to prosper faster.” The collective payoff, which includes loans taken out by the students’ parents or guardians, amounts to $34 million. More than 400 new Morehouse College graduates received emailed letters Friday informing them of the amounts of their student loans that will be paid off by a billionaire donor who pledged last spring to wipe out the loan debt of the entire graduating Class of 2019.