This fall will mark not only the beginning of a new school year for millions of students, but the launch of Student Freedom Initiative, a nonprofit organization which was the brainchild of Robert F. Smith. Student Freedom Initiative will offer flexible, lower-risk alternatives to high-interest private student loans to college

Robert F. Smith, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, recently joined John Rogers Jr., the co-CEO of Ariel Investments, the oldest Black-owned asset management firm, on Roll Call’s Fintech Beat podcast. Together, the two financial sector leaders discussed everything from the rise of digitalization to the importance

According to a 2021 report from the U.S. Department of Education, 42.9 million Americans have federal student loans. That’s 1 in 8 Americans. Furthermore, the current total outstanding student loan debt is $1.59 trillion, with most students leaving college saddled with nearly $30,000 in personal debt. However, there is one

Sworn into office by Vice President Kamala Harris on May 25, 2021, Kristen M. Clarke is Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). And as Harris holds firsts for her office, Clarke is also the first woman and first Black woman to hold her

A new partnership between Student Freedom Initiative, Cisco and AVC Technologies aims to advance technology and digital capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and support students working with Student Freedom Initiative. In May 2021, Cisco announced it would donate $150 million to help achieve the mission of Student

Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott made national headlines this June when she announced her most recent slate of high-impact, large-scale donations, amounting to more than $2.7 billion given to hundreds of groups. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, donated to 286 organizations with a diverse array of causes, including racial