Cheyney University in Delaware and Chester counties announced this week it will erase unpaid student bills accumulated since the start of the pandemic, writes Jeremy Roebuck for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Cheyney, the nation’s oldest historically Black college, will use federal stimulus money to pay outstanding student balances from 2020 and the spring of 2021.

About $400,000 will be spent to benefit 180 students, covering an average debt of $2,200.

“Our students have gone through a lot over the past 18 months, and we want to do whatever we can to lighten the burden,” Cheyney president Aaron A. Walton said.

Colleges receiving federal stimulus funds must spend half directly on student need.

About 75 percent of Cheyney University students are already receiving need-based federal financial aid. 

“The majority of our students come from economically deprived families, and there’s no question that the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on people of color,” Walton said. “A lot of those individuals are on the front lines or in jobs immediately affected by the pandemic. … Doing what we’re doing is in the best interests of the students and the best interest of the university.”

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about the Cheney University debt forgiveness.

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