NC State textile graduates surprised with loan payoff gift
Anil Kochhar’s surprise gift will erase final-year loans for NC State textile graduates, a sudden relief for hundreds stepping into Raleigh’s costly next chapter.
A commencement surprise at NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles turned a celebration into an unexpected financial reset for hundreds of new graduates. Donor Anil Kochhar announced that he and his wife, Marilyn, would pay off all final-year student loans taken out by Wilson College graduates in the 2025-2026 school year, a gesture that landed with immediate force inside the auditorium and far beyond it.
The announcement came during the university’s spring 2026 commencement festivities, held Saturday, May 9, at 9 a.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. NC State said 7,424 students graduated and the university conferred 7,808 degrees in all. The class included 1,432 first-generation students, 133 veterans and 722 international students from 59 countries and 45 states. More than 3,600 graduates received honors, including 1,549 summa cum laude, 1,053 magna cum laude and 1,055 cum laude. Harry Sideris, chief executive of Duke Energy and an NC State alumnus, delivered the university commencement address.
For the textile school, the gift carried a personal family history. Kochhar said the donation honored his father, Prakash Chand Kochhar, who came to NC State from India in the 1940s to continue his education in textiles. Anil and Marilyn Kochhar have also established three endowments for students and faculty in his memory, linking the one-day surprise to a longer pattern of support inside one of NC State’s signature colleges.
The relief was immediate for graduates facing the first months after college in Raleigh, where housing costs and the job search can collide fast. Alyssa D’Costa, one of the graduates, said the gift was amazing and a big relief. For textile students leaving campus with debt erased, the timing matters as much as the amount: the payoff arrives just as they are trying to line up apartments, first paychecks and the move from student life to a tighter financial reality.
The moment also raised a broader question about how universities support graduates after the applause fades. A viral surprise can deliver a powerful headline, but the real test is whether that kind of backing becomes part of the institution’s everyday message to students who are graduating into an expensive city and an uncertain economy. At Wilson College of Textiles, the Kochhars’ gift gave the class of 2026 one less bill to carry into that next chapter.
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