A real-estate billionaire who was the first in his family to attend college just pledged $100 million to fund scholarships for first-generation students at his alma mater, UVA

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• Billionaire real-estate developer David Walentas just pledged to donate $100 million to his alma mater, the University of Virginia, to fund scholarships for first-generation students.
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• The gift will cover UVA's $44,724 tuition for 60 first-generation students from Rochester, New York; New York City; or the Commonwealth of Virginia beginning in 2022, the school said in a statement.
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• Walentas, who made a fortune developing real estate in Brooklyn, New York, has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes estimates.
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• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Real-estate billionaire David Walentas was the first in his family to earn a college degree. Now, he has pledged $100 million to fund the educations of first-generation students at his alma mater, the University of Virginia, the school announced in a press release on October 12.

"Thanks to a scholarship, I was the first in my family to attend college, and my time at UVA completely changed my life," Walentas said in a statement. "There are so many talented young people in this country - in places like New York City and Rochester, where I grew up - who can help make our society a better place if given the opportunity. I can't wait to see how these first-generation college students change the world."

High schools in Rochester, New York; New York City; and the Commonwealth of Virginia will be able to nominate students for the scholarships. In order to qualify to become a Walentas Scholar beginning in 2022, nominees must be the first in their families to go to college, the University said in a press release. Each year, 60 students will be awarded full scholarships that will cover the cost of college for each year they attend UVA.

A representative for Walentas told Business Insider that the program will cover all of each scholar's school expenses for four years including summer enrichment programs, and is permanently endowed. The estimated total cost of attendance for an out-of-state student was between $64,156 and $65,256 for the 2018-2019 school year, including $44,724 in tuition, according to UVA's website.

The new scholarship is one part of UVA's ongoing efforts to attract first-generation students, University President Jim Ryan said in a statement.

Walentas, 81, attended the University of Virginia on an ROTC grant, according to Forbes. Walentas told Forbes' Carter Coudriet that he chose UVA from a list of 50 schools provided by the Armed Forces because he thought it would be easier to get into because it was near the end of the list. After graduating from UVA's Darden School of Business in 1964, Walentas founded real-estate developer Two Trees Management, which is credited for revitalizing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of DUMBO and Williamsburg beginning in the 1970s.

Billionaires around the world are helping college students pay their way through school

Walentas' donation follows a string of high-profile gifts aimed at subsidizing the cost of education around the world.

Private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the student loans of Morehouse College's graduating class in May. In September, he expanded the $34 million gift to cover any loans owed by the recent graduates' parents, too.

And in June, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing pledged to spend $14.4 million each year for the next five years to pay for Shantou University's full tuition. Li Ka-Shing, often referred to as Superman, made his way up from an impoverished childhood in southern China to becoming the richest person in Hong Kong.

Education attracts more donations from the ultra-wealthy than any other cause, with 79.5% of billionaires making donations to education-focused organizations in 2018, according to research firm Wealth-X.