Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent millions in the 2018 midterms helping House Democratic candidates in the party’s successful push to reclaim the chamber. | Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Education Potential 2020 candidate Bloomberg gives $1.8B to Johns Hopkins

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who is weighing a 2020 presidential bid — pledged Sunday to donate $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University for undergraduate student financial aid — the largest donation ever to a U.S. university.

The gift to the private, Baltimore-based research institution allows it to permanently commit to providing “need-blind” admissions that weigh just merit in decisions — without considering a prospective student's finances. Bloomberg is a 1964 graduate of Johns Hopkins.


Bloomberg’s gift represents the largest-ever donation to a U.S. college or university, according to the university and Bloomberg Philanthropies in a joint press release announcing the gift. A list of the largest university donations since 1967 published by the Chronicle of Higher Education appears to support that claim.

“I want to be sure the school that gave me a chance will be able to permanently open that same door of opportunity for generations of talented students, regardless of their ability to pay,” Bloomberg said in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday.

Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist who served as both a Republican and political independent while mayor of New York, is registered today as a Democrat. He’s among a large crop of Democrats considering a presidential bid. He spent millions in the 2018 midterms helping House Democratic candidates in the party’s successful push to reclaim the House.

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The gift comes as the nation grapples with a cumulative $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. Amid that, there’s growing concern that America’s top universities are financially out of reach for students from lower- and middle-income families — the group Bloomberg says the gift is solely targeting.

“The school will be able to offer more generous levels of financial aid, replacing loans for many students with scholarship grants,” Bloomberg said. “It will ease the burden of debt for many graduates. And it will make the campus more socioeconomically diverse.”

In making the gift, Bloomberg called for improving college advising so “that more students from more diverse backgrounds apply to select colleges.” He said it was time to persuade more colleges to increase their financial aid and accept more low- and middle-income students. He also encouraged more graduates to direct their alumni giving to financial aid — even if it’s just a small donation.

Bloomberg said he made his first gift of $5 to Johns Hopkins the year after his graduation, but has since donated $1.5 billion to support research, teaching and financial aid. The new gift is in addition to those funds.

The announcement builds on work Bloomberg Philanthropies has done with the American Talent Initiative, which has a goal of attracting, enrolling or graduating an additional 50,000 lower-income students at the 296 colleges and universities that consistently graduate at least 70 percent of their students in six years.

Johns Hopkins, which has an undergraduate sticker price of about $50,000 annually, will be able to offer no-loan financial aid packages because of the gift, Bloomberg and the university said.

While it previously had a lower endowment than many of its peer institutions, Johns Hopkins will rank among the top 10 universities in per-student financial aid support because of the gift, according to the press release.