$50 million new gift from Brad and Alys Smith powers university’s debt-free education push, raising their support to school to over $90 million
Marshall University President Brad Smith and his wife, attorney Alys Smith, have pledged $50 million to the school’s “Marshall For All” program, a landmark initiative designed to eliminate student debt by the university’s 200th anniversary in 2037.
The gift is the largest in Marshall’s history and is also believed to be the largest personal contribution ever made by a sitting university president to his own institution.
The program, launched in 2023, allows students to combine scholarships, grants, part-time work and family contributions to earn their degrees without borrowing.
Nearly 400 students are already enrolled in the debt-free track, according to the university, with 69 percent being the first in their families to attend college.
Data from the program’s first cohorts show retention rates and GPAs higher than those of their peers who are not in the program. Marshall officials have set the ambitious goal of making this model available to all students by 2037.
The Smiths said their motivation for the gift was to help level the playing field for students across West Virginia and Appalachia.
“We hope this gift ensures that every student with the dream of an advanced degree has the opportunity and support to achieve it—while also showing what’s possible for the future of higher education in our region and beyond,” they said in a statement.
The donation brings the couple’s total giving to Marshall to more than $90 million, underscoring their role as the university’s leading benefactors.
In 2015, they contributed $10 million to establish the Brad D. and Alys Smith Family Scholarship, aimed at first-generation students from West Virginia and Ohio.
Three years later, they gave $25 million to support business education, resulting in the creation of the Brad D. Smith Schools of Business and the new Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation, which opened in 2024.
University leaders praised the latest gift as transformative. “Their generosity propels us closer to our goal of eradicating student debt by 2037 while setting a new standard in higher education,” said Nico Karagosian, president and CEO of the Marshall University Foundation.
He noted that reducing debt burdens is a particularly urgent challenge in a region where college access and affordability remain obstacles for many families.
Nationally, the average federal student loan debt stands at more than $39,000 per borrower, according to the Office of Federal Student Aid.
Brad Smith, a native of Kenova, West Virginia, graduated from Marshall in 1986 before earning a master’s degree in management from Aquinas College.
He went on to a career in the technology industry, serving as CEO of Intuit from 2008 to 2019, and later joining the boards of Amazon and JPMorgan Chase. He became Marshall’s 38th president in 2022, returning to his alma mater with a stated focus on expanding opportunity for students from backgrounds similar to his own.
Alys Smith, originally from Ohio, is an attorney and certified mediator. She has worked for the Ohio Attorney General’s office and in private practice and currently serves as a guardian ad litem representing foster children in abuse and neglect cases.
She is also active in civic life in West Virginia, including founding the Women Warriors Summit in Huntington, a leadership forum for women across Appalachia.