Anil Kochhar Wipes Out Student Debt For 176 NC State Graduates

Photo: NC State Giving News/Chris Formont

India-West News Desk

RALEIGH, NC -The hall erupted in cheers at North Carolina State University Wilson College of Textiles as philanthropist Anil Kochhar paused mid-address to make an announcement that instantly changed the mood of the graduation ceremony.

Speaking to 176 graduates on May 8, Kochhar revealed that he and his wife, Marilyn, would pay off all final-year education loans incurred during the 2025–26 academic year. “It is my privilege to announce today,” he said, “that, in honor of my father, Prakash Chand Kochhar, Marilyn and I are providing a graduation gift” to cover those loans.

The reaction inside Reynolds Coliseum was immediate, with students rising to their feet as the scale of the gesture became clear.

Kochhar briefly shifted from the announcement to its meaning, telling graduates he hoped they would leave not only with degrees but with “greater freedom to pursue your goals, take risks and build the lives you’ve worked so hard to achieve.”

Video: NC State University

He tied that message to his family’s history with the university, recounting how his father arrived in Raleigh from India decades ago with little certainty about the future. “He could not have imagined the life it would create,” Kochhar said, reflecting on that journey, before adding that his father also “could not have imagined this moment.”

Prakash Chand Kochhar, born in Punjab, enrolled at the college in 1946 as only its second Indian student. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1950 and a master’s in 1952 before building a career in the textile industry. The family eventually made the United States their home, maintaining a strong connection to the institution that first welcomed him.

Drawing a line between past and present, Kochhar told the graduates that while they come from a different world, they are connected by “the same spirit of possibility” that defined his father’s journey.

That legacy has extended beyond words into sustained philanthropy. After Prakash Chand Kochhar’s death in 1985, his wife Christine Hayes Kochhar established a memorial textile scholarship in his name. Anil Kochhar and Marilyn later expanded that commitment through multiple endowments supporting the college’s leadership, faculty, and graduate students.

University officials said they are still calculating the total value of the loan repayment gift and will work through the logistics with campus office