November 30, 2025 • 12 mins
In this clip Robert Smith explained the broadband issue for HBCUs, student loans, and his solution. #robertsmith #morehouse #studentloans Link to Full Episode: • Robert Smith on Being The Richest Black Am... EYL University: https://www.eyluniversity.com Monthly Investment Deal: https://www.earnyourleisure.com/pages...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank.
A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring,
and sure they definitely can be, but understanding of professionals
routine shows us how they achieve their success little by little,
day after day. It's like banking with P and C Bank.
It might seem boring the safe plan and make calculated
(00:21):
decisions with your bank, but keeping your money boring is
what helps you live a more happily fulfilled life. P
and C Bank Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly
Boring since eighteen sixty five is a service mark of
the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. P and C Bank
National Association Member FDIC.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well documented they give back to the senior class of
Worehouse and then I recently saw that the parents as
well of some of the students.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Their tuitions were their student loan debt.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Also taking care of One of the things I heard
you speak about, and I haven't I've never heard it
was broadband deserts.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, and how.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
HBCUs are disproportionately affected by having board band deserts not
a topic that I've heard discussed, you know, nationally or
even in you know, amongst communities, about how that affects
students long term and how it affects communities and education.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Can you talk about your efforts to try to combat that. Yeah,
it's a great question.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We've been talking about what is really the Fourth Industrial
Revolution that's occurring today. Every industry is being digitized, every
single one. I mean you just look in our studio
here and how much of this equipment is now digital
versus what it was even eight years ago where it
was analog, right, The capacity to edit okay, the capacity
(01:51):
to deliver streaming real time, you know, phase time around
the world, your program that wasn't you know something you
could do ten years ago, twelve years ago?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Digitizing everything every industry. This is again, this whole fourth
Industrial Revolution is changing the economic landscape of this planet.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
But yet our HBCUs eighty.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Percent of them are in broadband deserts. How are you
going to participate if you don't have access to the
tool of progress the principal tool of progress today in
the economy.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And that is a big problem.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And that's one that we decided to take on, and
I decided to take on and bring some partners to
take on.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
To go get after this. We have to enable all
of our.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Citizenry to participate in this next generation of opportunity. The
US today, you own, our borders are basically closed, okay,
you know, we've got immigration laws and political conflict that
in essence, we are not importing labor anymore. And as
(03:06):
we need to grow as society, we need people. I
just tell people the biggest issue, the most scarce asset
we have on this planet today are software programmers. There's
eight billion people on the planet. There's only twenty six
million of us who write software.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
For a living.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And it is that software that is required to digitize
every industry on the planet. Automotive, healthcare, demands thanking, all
of it is now requiring tools and systems that are.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Digital in nature.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
But yet one of the greatest infrastructures for training people
historically black college and universities eighty percent of them don't
have broadband access where our kids can learn the tools
of this craft in a way that they can participate
effectively long term. And if we don't get this right now,
(04:05):
eight years from now, ten years from twenty years from now,
the market of change and opportunity and transformation will have
been gone so far that we won't be able to
participate in this next way. We didn't get to participate
in the great economic opportunity that was America in owning
land okay. Many of our families were unpaid labor okay, which.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Created massive wealth.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
And then you had gi Bill Home Set Act, Southern
Home Set Act. We didn't participate in that proportionately. We
didn't get a chance to participate in the asset accretion
in real estate because of redlining in those dynamics. And
so now here we are corporate America started to expand.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It has taken a while for us to get and.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
We're still not even there fair share of opportunity to
participate as professionals environment and now you're going through the
fourth Industrial Revolution. If we don't participate here, it's going
to be the same dynamic. That's why it's so essential
that we equip our children and our communities with the tools,
and they need to insist that those tools be provided
(05:20):
and insist that they learn and train and develop ways
to participate in this economy, in this digital economy, what
percentage of your viewership you think is listening on some
digital device or digitalment ablement Yeah, your business relies on it,
(05:45):
so why shouldn't your community participate in it? And right
now those schools are being starved at those resources. You
can say conscious, unconscious, whatever it is, but the fact
is it is there. That's what we have to do
about it. Look, I'm going to do my part. You
guys got to continue to your part and make sure
that your viewership demands that our HBCUs have access to broadband,
(06:10):
every one of them, not just the big ones, every
one of them, so that our kids could learn and
participate and have the ability to now take what they
know and deliver business systems solutions into their community to
make their small and medium businesses in their community and
the education of the kids in our community more effective
(06:32):
than what it is today.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I want to just follow up on that on the
HPCU thing, because you got a lot of headlines when
you do more house, when you paid off the student loans.
But when we were in LA and I heard you
speak about that, and I realized that it wasn't It's
a little bit more complicated, which actually led to something else,
another initiative. So can you talk about that because people
just saw he paid off everybody student loans.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
But that's not actually the full story, right, Yeah, So
the next thing, so what I.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Hell, Like all things, it's not as easy as you
think to pay off somebody's loans.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And everybody's like, what are you talking about? Who would
have thought?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Because yeah, whould have thought, right, Because if you pay
off somebody's loan, either you're giving them a gift orther
they're receiving a gift. Now they got to pay taxes
on it. So there's a burden to them or an
increasing burden to you. So you've got to actually architect
a system to do that effectively so that doesn't create
the burden in that process. What I learned is over
(07:32):
sixty percent of African American wealth.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Goes towards servicing student loans.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Okay, you come out, you've got sixty eighty one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars with the student loans.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Now you're paying interest on those loans.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Something happens in your family to use your job, whatever,
and now that compounds and it can be decades before
you've paid off those student loans. That inhibit you're a
ability to buy stocks, bonds, a house, invest in a business.
You see what I mean, and I was like, well,
that's just unconstable because most of the student loans are
(08:10):
paying back to the United States government. Yeah, African Americans
paying money back to United States government to pay our
student loans.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
How y'all feel about that? That's crazy?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Crazy, Yeah, y'all should think about that, right, talk about that, right.
So then I thought, well, what's a better way to
do it? This is what's the better equilibrium system. The
better equilibrium system is to create a fund. It's called
the Student Freedom Initiative. We raise money, I put in
(08:43):
a bunch of money, and now these students borrow from
the fund.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Okay, let's make.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Sure it fits our condition. Our condition often is that
we often aren't paid as much as corresponding white students.
So let's make sure that the interest rate is below
parent plus loans.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
At a minimum, at a minimum and every now and
you have life interruptions.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Okay, Well, if there's a life interruption, you know, parent ailing,
we've got to go back take care of that parent.
Then we can actually stop those payments in that period
of time. Parent plus now you're gonna pay whether you
work it or not. And then compounds and all that,
so you can stop it during that period of time.
And if you decide to go work in a community
(09:38):
to be a teacher like you were, right, okay, and
you're making below a certain amount, but you're doing good
for the community. You do that for twenty years and
that's forgiven. But rather than pay that money back to
the government, it pays back into the fund and then
that fund can relend that capital and that's.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
A virtuous cycle. Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So that's a student Freadom initiative, is okay, And so
that our students can borrow from this fund and they
pay back into that fund.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
They can be reborrowed.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
So now you're taking care of your own community through
your work in that regard, that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
And the money goes back to the next generation of students, right,
my graduates from my school being false.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Bad drop drop mic drop bagdrop earners. What's up?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You ever walk into a small business and everything just works,
like the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital, tipping
is a breeze, and you're out the door before the
line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. We love
supporting businesses that run on Square because it just feels seamless.
Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor at a
pop up market, or even one of our merch partners,
(11:04):
Square makes it easy for them to take payments, manage inventory,
and run their business with confidence, all from one simple system.
One of the things we love most is seeing neighborhood
businesses level up. Business West Indian spired writing our community
that started with a small takeout counter. Now with Square
they've been able to expand into a full sit down
(11:25):
restaurant and even started catering events across the city. That's
the kind of growth that inspires us, and it's powered
by Square. Square is built for all types of businesses,
from the corner bagel shop that turned into a local chain,
to the specialty market with thousands of unique items, to
the stylists who's been holding you down for years. If
(11:45):
you're a business owner or even just thinking about launching
something soon, Square is hands down one of the best
tools out there to help you start, run and grow.
It's not just about payments, it's about giving you time
back so you can focus on what matters most ready.
To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square
dot com, Backslash Go, Backslash e y l to learn
(12:08):
more that Square dot com backslash, Go backslash e y L.
Don't wait, don't hesitate. Let's Square handle the back end
so you can keep pushing your vision forward
This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank.
A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring,
and sure they definitely can be, but understanding of professionals
routine shows us how they achieve their success little by little,
day after day. It's like banking with P and C Bank.
It might seem boring the safe plan and make calculated
(00:21):
decisions with your bank, but keeping your money boring is
what helps you live a more happily fulfilled life. P
and C Bank Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly
Boring since eighteen sixty five is a service mark of
the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. P and C Bank
National Association Member FDIC.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well documented they give back to the senior class of
Worehouse and then I recently saw that the parents as
well of some of the students.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Their tuitions were their student loan debt.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Also taking care of One of the things I heard
you speak about, and I haven't I've never heard it
was broadband deserts.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, and how.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
HBCUs are disproportionately affected by having board band deserts not
a topic that I've heard discussed, you know, nationally or
even in you know, amongst communities, about how that affects
students long term and how it affects communities and education.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Can you talk about your efforts to try to combat that. Yeah,
it's a great question.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We've been talking about what is really the Fourth Industrial
Revolution that's occurring today. Every industry is being digitized, every
single one. I mean you just look in our studio
here and how much of this equipment is now digital
versus what it was even eight years ago where it
was analog, right, The capacity to edit okay, the capacity
(01:51):
to deliver streaming real time, you know, phase time around
the world, your program that wasn't you know something you
could do ten years ago, twelve years ago?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Digitizing everything every industry. This is again, this whole fourth
Industrial Revolution is changing the economic landscape of this planet.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
But yet our HBCUs eighty.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Percent of them are in broadband deserts. How are you
going to participate if you don't have access to the
tool of progress the principal tool of progress today in
the economy.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And that is a big problem.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And that's one that we decided to take on, and
I decided to take on and bring some partners to
take on.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
To go get after this. We have to enable all
of our.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Citizenry to participate in this next generation of opportunity. The
US today, you own, our borders are basically closed, okay,
you know, we've got immigration laws and political conflict that
in essence, we are not importing labor anymore. And as
(03:06):
we need to grow as society, we need people. I
just tell people the biggest issue, the most scarce asset
we have on this planet today are software programmers. There's
eight billion people on the planet. There's only twenty six
million of us who write software.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
For a living.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And it is that software that is required to digitize
every industry on the planet. Automotive, healthcare, demands thanking, all
of it is now requiring tools and systems that are.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Digital in nature.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
But yet one of the greatest infrastructures for training people
historically black college and universities eighty percent of them don't
have broadband access where our kids can learn the tools
of this craft in a way that they can participate
effectively long term. And if we don't get this right now,
(04:05):
eight years from now, ten years from twenty years from now,
the market of change and opportunity and transformation will have
been gone so far that we won't be able to
participate in this next way. We didn't get to participate
in the great economic opportunity that was America in owning
land okay. Many of our families were unpaid labor okay, which.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Created massive wealth.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
And then you had gi Bill Home Set Act, Southern
Home Set Act. We didn't participate in that proportionately. We
didn't get a chance to participate in the asset accretion
in real estate because of redlining in those dynamics. And
so now here we are corporate America started to expand.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It has taken a while for us to get and.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
We're still not even there fair share of opportunity to
participate as professionals environment and now you're going through the
fourth Industrial Revolution. If we don't participate here, it's going
to be the same dynamic. That's why it's so essential
that we equip our children and our communities with the tools,
and they need to insist that those tools be provided
(05:20):
and insist that they learn and train and develop ways
to participate in this economy, in this digital economy, what
percentage of your viewership you think is listening on some
digital device or digitalment ablement Yeah, your business relies on it,
(05:45):
so why shouldn't your community participate in it? And right
now those schools are being starved at those resources. You
can say conscious, unconscious, whatever it is, but the fact
is it is there. That's what we have to do
about it. Look, I'm going to do my part. You
guys got to continue to your part and make sure
that your viewership demands that our HBCUs have access to broadband,
(06:10):
every one of them, not just the big ones, every
one of them, so that our kids could learn and
participate and have the ability to now take what they
know and deliver business systems solutions into their community to
make their small and medium businesses in their community and
the education of the kids in our community more effective
(06:32):
than what it is today.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I want to just follow up on that on the
HPCU thing, because you got a lot of headlines when
you do more house, when you paid off the student loans.
But when we were in LA and I heard you
speak about that, and I realized that it wasn't It's
a little bit more complicated, which actually led to something else,
another initiative. So can you talk about that because people
just saw he paid off everybody student loans.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
But that's not actually the full story, right, Yeah, So
the next thing, so what I.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Hell, Like all things, it's not as easy as you
think to pay off somebody's loans.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And everybody's like, what are you talking about? Who would
have thought?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Because yeah, whould have thought, right, Because if you pay
off somebody's loan, either you're giving them a gift orther
they're receiving a gift. Now they got to pay taxes
on it. So there's a burden to them or an
increasing burden to you. So you've got to actually architect
a system to do that effectively so that doesn't create
the burden in that process. What I learned is over
(07:32):
sixty percent of African American wealth.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Goes towards servicing student loans.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Okay, you come out, you've got sixty eighty one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars with the student loans.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Now you're paying interest on those loans.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Something happens in your family to use your job, whatever,
and now that compounds and it can be decades before
you've paid off those student loans. That inhibit you're a
ability to buy stocks, bonds, a house, invest in a business.
You see what I mean, and I was like, well,
that's just unconstable because most of the student loans are
(08:10):
paying back to the United States government. Yeah, African Americans
paying money back to United States government to pay our
student loans.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
How y'all feel about that? That's crazy?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Crazy, Yeah, y'all should think about that, right, talk about that, right.
So then I thought, well, what's a better way to
do it? This is what's the better equilibrium system. The
better equilibrium system is to create a fund. It's called
the Student Freedom Initiative. We raise money, I put in
(08:43):
a bunch of money, and now these students borrow from
the fund.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Okay, let's make.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Sure it fits our condition. Our condition often is that
we often aren't paid as much as corresponding white students.
So let's make sure that the interest rate is below
parent plus loans.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
At a minimum, at a minimum and every now and
you have life interruptions.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Okay, Well, if there's a life interruption, you know, parent ailing,
we've got to go back take care of that parent.
Then we can actually stop those payments in that period
of time. Parent plus now you're gonna pay whether you
work it or not. And then compounds and all that,
so you can stop it during that period of time.
And if you decide to go work in a community
(09:38):
to be a teacher like you were, right, okay, and
you're making below a certain amount, but you're doing good
for the community. You do that for twenty years and
that's forgiven. But rather than pay that money back to
the government, it pays back into the fund and then
that fund can relend that capital and that's.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
A virtuous cycle. Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So that's a student Freadom initiative, is okay, And so
that our students can borrow from this fund and they
pay back into that fund.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
They can be reborrowed.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
So now you're taking care of your own community through
your work in that regard, that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
And the money goes back to the next generation of students, right,
my graduates from my school being false.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Bad drop drop mic drop bagdrop earners. What's up?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
You ever walk into a small business and everything just works,
like the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital, tipping
is a breeze, and you're out the door before the
line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. We love
supporting businesses that run on Square because it just feels seamless.
Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor at a
pop up market, or even one of our merch partners,
(11:04):
Square makes it easy for them to take payments, manage inventory,
and run their business with confidence, all from one simple system.
One of the things we love most is seeing neighborhood
businesses level up. Business West Indian spired writing our community
that started with a small takeout counter. Now with Square
they've been able to expand into a full sit down
(11:25):
restaurant and even started catering events across the city. That's
the kind of growth that inspires us, and it's powered
by Square. Square is built for all types of businesses,
from the corner bagel shop that turned into a local chain,
to the specialty market with thousands of unique items, to
the stylists who's been holding you down for years. If
(11:45):
you're a business owner or even just thinking about launching
something soon, Square is hands down one of the best
tools out there to help you start, run and grow.
It's not just about payments, it's about giving you time
back so you can focus on what matters most ready.
To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square
dot com, Backslash Go, Backslash e y l to learn
(12:08):
more that Square dot com backslash, Go backslash e y L.
Don't wait, don't hesitate. Let's Square handle the back end
so you can keep pushing your vision forward
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