MacKenzie Scott has been one of the most generous philanthropists during the past few years, and an episode in college may help explain why.
This fall alone, she’s donated well over $400 million to several education- and DEI-focused organizations, many of which received the largest gifts in their respective histories.
Scott sees the value of and need for support, especially during someone’s early, formative years. After all, she had to borrow money from her college roommate when she was struggling.
“It was the local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me securing a broken tooth with denture glue in college. It was the college roommate who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year.”
After graduating from Princeton University, Scott went on to become a talented novelist—a product of none other than Toni Morrison’s teaching. And in 2005, she published her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, which won an American Book Award in 2006. Morrison reviewed the book as “a rarity: a sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart.”
Her roommate from Princeton saw the difference that the $1,000 gift had made in her life, and that inspired her roommate to start a company 20 years later that offers loans to low-income students without a co-signer.
