Many North Carolina schools held their graduation ceremonies this past weekend, and one graduating class had a ceremony that they’ll never forget. North Carolina State’s Wilson College of Textiles was one of them. Their commencement speaker was a man named Anil Kochhar. NC State’s Wilson College is a college within NC State University in Raleigh. There were approximately 200 students in this year’s graduating class.
Anil’s father, Prakash Chand Kochhar, graduated from the college with a bachelor’s degree 76 years ago and a master’s degree 74 years ago. In honor of his father’s memory, Anil announced during his keynote address that he and his wife, Marilyn, would be covering each graduate’s student loans from this past school year. He also announced that he and Marilyn were creating three new endowment funds in his father’s name.
Graduates of North Carolina State’s Wilson College of Textiles got more than just a diploma on Friday, May 8.
The college’s commencement ceremony saw 176 students earn bachelor’s degrees and 26 earn master’s degrees, reports Axios Raleigh. Anil Kochhar, son of the late Wilson College of Textiles alumnus Prakash Chand Kochhar, delivered the keynote address.
Prakash earned his bachelor’s degree in textile manufacturing from the college in 1950 and his master’s degree in the same program in 1952.
In honor of his late father, Anil announced during his speech that he and his wife, Marilyn, would be “providing a graduation gift to cover all the final-year education loans incurred by Wilson College graduates during the 2025–26 academic year.”
“Marilyn and I hope that all of you leave Reynolds Coliseum today not only with a degree but with greater freedom to pursue your goals, take risks and build the lives you’ve worked so hard to achieve,” he added, per a press release from the school.
Anil’s announcement was met with roaring cheers, as seen in clips from the graduation ceremony.
The gift comes two months after the college announced that Anil and Marilyn were creating three funds in Prakash’s memory — Prakash Chand Kochhar Dean’s Chair Endowment, Prakash Chand Kochhar Endowed Faculty Fund and the Prakash Chand Kochhar Graduate Support Endowment.
The school also created the Prakash Chand Kochhar Memorial Textile Scholarship in 1986 with support from Prakash’s estate and his employer, the Technical Service Group of Hercules.
When it came to Anil’s latest gift, David Hinks, the inaugural Prakash Chand Kochhar Dean at Wilson College of Textiles, said that the college “quickly” coordinated with NC State’s Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid to make it come to fruition.
“I could not be more grateful to Anil and Marilyn for this extraordinary investment in our newest Wilson for Life alumni,” Hinks said in a statement included in the press release.
“As the preeminent institution for textiles education, research and innovation, we are deeply committed to ensuring the Wilson College enables students from all walks of life to transform their own lives while graduating with zero or low debt,” the statement continued. “One of our primary goals is to make the Wilson College affordable for all, and Anil and Marilyn are helping us achieve it.”
This is such an incredibly kind gesture and wonderful way for Anil to honor his father. I’m sure Prakash would have been very proud of his son’s generosity. That is how you pass along generational wealth. Student loan debt is so crushing to so many people that even having one year taken care of can make a huge difference. The Today show picked up this story on Monday morning and posted a clip of it to their Instagram. The comment section is full of parents saying that their kids were among the graduates and expressing their gratitude at the Kochhars’ generosity. I got emotional reading through some of them. It’s been a rough few years where we’ve seen the worst of human greed continue to take, hoard, and destroy. It’s so heartening to hear a story like this one, with someone using their wealth to actually make people’s lives better.
#GradSeason Anil Kochhar, whose father graduated from the NC State College of Textiles in the ’50s, has promised to cover the full cost of all student loans incurred during this academic calendar for the Wilson College Class of 2026. @SpecNews1RDU pic.twitter.com/Fda3lzl8eb
— Patrick Karl Thomas (@PatThomasNews) May 8, 2026
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