Robert F. Smith, the billionaire who vowed to eliminate the student debt of Morehouse College’s Class of 2019, is still in the giving spirit. He now has plans to help 1,000 students score paid internships.

The entrepreneur created intern X, a sector of his Fund II Foundation. The program is helping "rising sophomores with at least a 2.8 GPA from ethnically underrepresented groups" land an eight-week summer internship in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

AT&T, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Deloitte, Citi and Vista Equity Partners are reportedly among the companies that have pledged to take on internX candidates.

Earlier this month, Smith shocked Morehouse graduates when he revealed he’d be paying off their student loan debt. The technology investor, who received an honorary doctorate from the HBCU, made the surprise announcement during the institution’s morning commencement. The gift has been estimated to be worth up to $40 million.

» RELATED: Morehouse commencement speaker to pay off Class of 2019's student loans

To register for internX, visit  https://internx.org/register/student .

About the Author

Featured

In 2022, Georgia Power projected its winter peak electricity demand would grow by about 400 megawatts by 2031. Since then, Georgia has experienced a boom of data centers, which require a large load of electricty to run, and Georgia Power's recent forecast shows peak demand growing by 20 times the 400-megawatt estimate from just three years ago. (Illustration by Philip Robibero/AJC)

Credit: Illustration: Philip Robibero / AJC