Got a Spare Billion? Then please hear me out.

After reading about Michael Bloomberg’s latest gift to Johns Hopkins University (see Washington Post’s article, “$1 billion gift to make Johns Hopkins medical school free for most.”), I have a suggestion and one informed by more than just my thirty years in the fundraising world.

As I’ve shared with so many, I left high school with little academic achievement but a strong desire to do more with my life. Fortunately, some friends convinced me to give the University of Kansas a shot. And because the first semester’s tuition was a mere $640, I could take that shot. While the tuition was significant, it was not insurmountable. With the help of family, many jobs (including bus driving - see photo above), and subsidized loans, I became a first-generation college graduate.

So why was tuition so affordable? Simple: In the early 1990s, the state provided 38% of the University’s budget. Another factor was philanthropy. The University of Kansas has a long history of donors funding the buildings, underwriting programs, growing endowments, and providing unrestricted funding. In fact, a career-enabling subsidized loan was provided by the generosity of donors so I could work an internship in D.C.

Yes, thirty years ago, someone like me could get help from family, work part-time, and get through school. Today, tuition at the University of Kansas is a little over $11,000 a year for Kansas residents, not including books, other fees, and living expenses for basic needs (food, housing, etc.). To put that into perspective, my $1,280 annual tuition, if adjusted for inflation, would be $3,074 a year if support for higher education had remained the same.

Unfortunately, state support for the University of Kansas plummeted and is now just 18% of the overall budget. Of course, other factors have contributed, but the fact is still the same: university and college tuition is not affordable for someone trying to work and attend school today without taking on burdensome loans.

Fortunately, there’s an answer: billionaires looking to make an impact can follow Michael Bloomberg’s example and start making those large gifts. To all my billionaire friends out there, we’ll talk later.

Literally and without exaggeration, their billion-dollar gifts could change the lives of millions through funding to make higher education affordable. A billion-dollar gift to an institution could make tuition free or manageable for millions of students. Such gifts could reverse the trend of inaccessible education and make it a reality for millions today and in the future. Lifting millions from poverty to prosperity.

If this appeal to those billionaires sounds too simple, I can assure you it’s not. And if this sounds too absurd, it’s not. If this generosity sounds impossible, I know it’s not. And if you don’t believe me, ask MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and, of course, Michael Bloomberg if their gifts were impossible.