Dell Founder Donates $750 Million to Alma Mater, One of the Largest Charitable Donations in US Education History
Recently, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan Dell announced a donation of $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin. This donation is one of the largest charitable donations in the history of US higher education and will be used to build a life sciences and academic medical research institution on the main campus. To date, the Dell couple has cumulatively donated over $1 billion to the university.
In 1984, 19-year-old Dell founded PC's Limited computer company in his University of Texas dormitory, which was later renamed "Dell Technologies."
This donation will be used to establish the "University of Texas Dell Advanced Research Area" and the "University of Texas Dell Medical Center," and will also fund undergraduate scholarships, student housing, and a supercomputing research center.
The new medical center will be integrated with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to improve early detection and personalized treatment.
Notably, last year the Dell couple also donated $6.25 billion to establish seed investment accounts for 25 million American children, at $250 per person.
As part of President Trump’s “Invest in America” plan, the Dell couple’s target is children aged 10 and under who are not yet eligible for government grants.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Michael Dell currently ranks as the 7th richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately $177 billion; and the University of Texas is the wealthiest public university system in the United States, with assets exceeding $27 billion, not including the assets of its various branches.