Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised billionaire Robert F. Smith’s announcement Sunday that he would pay the school loans for the 2019 graduating class of Morehouse College.

However, she also said it shouldn’t be Mr. Smith’s job to help students afford life after college in the midst of rising student debt.

“It’s important to note that people shouldn’t be in a situation where they depend on a stranger’s enormous act of charity for this kind of liberation to begin with (aka college should be affordable), but it is an incredible act of community investment in this system as it is,” the New York Democrat tweeted.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who has advocated for tuition-free public college, said Mr. Smith’s generosity could create a “natural experiment” to test how affordable higher-education affects the Morehouse graduates.

“This could be the start of what’s known in Econ as a ‘natural experiment,’ she said. “Follow these students & compare their life choices [with] their peers over the next 10-15 years.”

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