Friday, March 29, 2024

Financial Investor Frank Baker Pays Off Tuition for Spelman Graduates

Frank Baker

*Frank Baker, founder and managing partner of the billion-dollar private equity firm Siris, has pledged $1 million toward the establishment of a scholarship for Spelman College graduates. 

Baker’s generosity comes a year after his longtime friend, Robert Smith, the wealthiest Black man in America, surprised the 2019 class of Morehouse College by pledging to pay off their student loans to the tune of $35 million. 

“I’ve got the alumni over there and this is a challenge to you alumni,” Smith said while giving his commencement speech at the graduation ceremony of the historically Black all-male college. “Let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward. Because we are enough to take care of our own community.”

Baker responded to the challenge by announcing this week that he intends to cover the tuition balances of 50 graduating seniors at Spelman College in Atlanta. 

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“Robert was fortunate enough to go to Cornell and Columbia and him giving to Morehouse was a nod to the recognition that the majority of African-Americans going to college are graduating from historically black institutions,” said Baker, who graduated from the University of Chicago, in an interview, via forbes.com. “We need to make sure these schools continue to be viable. We are all part of the same community. It doesn’t matter if I went to the school or not.”

In a statement announcing the $1million gift, Frank and his wife Laura Day Baker stated:

We are all aware of the headwinds that people of color – especially women – face in our country, the challenges of which are made even more apparent by the economic and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it is critical that talented women finish college and confidently enter – free of undue financial stress – the initial stage of their professional careers. We hope that this gift will help lessen their financial burden as they start this promising next chapter in their lives and encourage them to persevere over life’s challenges.

Baker has reportedly spent $250,000 to cover tuition costs of the top 50 high-achieving Spelman students who need to pay off balances to graduate.

“The people who my heart really goes out to are women in their senior year who can’t afford it anymore and have to drop out,” said Baker. “These are the most resilient people because if they run out of money their senior year, you know they were out of money their sophomore year and just made it work.”

He will continue to provide financial relief to seniors at the historically Black all-female college for the next three years.

“These are the women we need in the workforce,” he said. “They are going to make a difference.”

So proud of my brother Frank Baker and congratulations to the Spelman Class of 2020!,” Robert Smith wrote on Twitter. 

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