Billionaire surprises students at Massachusetts college with big graduation gift

Finally graduating from college can be an emotional time. The ceremony essentially represents the culmination of stupidly late nights, stressful work in the library and early morning lectures.

Most people hope to enjoy the ceremony with their friends and family and look forward to the next chapter of their life with some anxiousness and optimism.

Students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth got an amazing graduation gift from their commencement speaker Thursday.

Billionaire Robert Hale surprised more than 1,100 graduates with $1,000 each.

"Each of you is getting $1,000 cash right now," he said. There was one instruction to go along with his gift.

Hale said $500 is for the graduates to keep and $500 is for them to give to others.

He invited them all to share in the joy of giving by gifting the money to a cause or person who needs it more than they do.

"These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring and giving," he said. "Our community needs you and your generosity more than ever."

Hale is the CEO of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications, which he founded in 2002, and a co-owner of the Boston Celtics. Forbes estimates his net worth at $5.4 billion.

The school also said Hale ‘urged them not to let failure define them, using his own life as an example of resilience and perseverance’.

And Hale has done the same thing before. Last year, he gave $1,000 to all 2,523 graduates at UMass Boston.

And in 2021, he gifted the same amount to 230 Quincy College graduates.

College graduates can certainly use the cash. It's been less than a year since the COVID-era student loan payment pause ended.

The Education Department said that roughly 40% of student loan borrowers who owed a payment when the pause ended in October 2023 failed to make that payment by mid-November.

Ref: Billionaire surprises students at Massachusetts college with big graduation gift (cbsnews)