UMass Amherst

Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Marshall University in West Virginia has received a $50 million gift from an unusual donor: President Brad Smith and his wife, Alys Smith.

The gift, the largest in the university’s history—and the largest by a sitting president to their own institution, according to the announcement —will support the Marshall for All program, established in 2023 to help students graduate debt-free by allowing them to combine scholarships, grants, work opportunities and family contributions to pay for a bachelor’s degree. The goal is for all students to graduate debt-free by Marshall’s bicentennial in 2037.

Smith, who grew up near Marshall and graduated from its Lewis College of Business, went on to work in Silicon Valley, where he spe

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