Bloomberg makes 'transformative' $1.8 billion donation to Johns Hopkins

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University, the largest gift ever made to an educational institution in the United States.

The donation was announced Sunday. Beginning next fall, the Baltimore university will be able to use the money to eliminate student loans in financial aid packages for low- and middle-income students. This gift is "unprecedented and transformative," Johns Hopkins President Ronald Daniels said in a statement.

Bloomberg, one of the richest people in the world, graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1964, and said he believes that "denying students entry to a college based on their ability to pay undermines equal opportunity." The university was founded in 1876, thanks to $7 million from Baltimore merchant Johns Hopkins. Daniels said like Bloomberg's donation, this was the largest gift of its kind at the time.

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