Anil Kochhar, a North Carolina State University donor, gave graduates of the school’s Wilson College of Textiles a lot more than just words of wisdom when he delivered their keynote commencement address recently.

The Indian American entrepreneur also announced that he would pay off any student loans taken out by the college’s graduating pupils during their senior year.

“I hope that all of you leave … today not only with a degree but with greater freedom to pursue your goals, take risks and build the lives that you’ve worked so hard to achieve,” Kochhar said, prompting loud cheers, applause and a standing ovation from his audience.

Video of Kochhar’s 8 May announcement quickly went viral in portions of the internet dedicated to finding news about acts of kindness. About 43 million people in the US carry student loan debt totaling nearly $1.7tn, and the small fraction of those who have gotten relief for their balances describe it as transformative.

The Guardian spoke to several for a piece published in early April, and they recounted how the loan forgiveness opened doors to new careers, financial stability and long-delayed life plans.

Among the degree recipients whom Kochhar addressed when he unveiled his gift was Alyssa D’Costa. According to a statement from North Carolina State, she said: “As a daughter of immigrants, this money helps me and my family a lot.”

Kochhar said he and his wife, Marilyn, decided to pay off the senior-year student loan debts for the Wilson College of Textiles’ graduating class of 2026 as a gesture in honor of Anil’s late father, an alumnus of the institution.

Prakash Chand Kochhar was born in Punjab, India, before enrolling in 1946 – 80 years earlier – at the university known to many as NC State. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degree in textile manufacturing from the university in 1950 and 1952 before embarking on a career that took him across the US as well as around the world, NC State said in a news release.

“He could not have imagined the life it would create, or that one day his son would stand here speaking to a graduating class at the very institution that welcomed him,” Anil Kochhar, who co-founded a healthcare technology software company, said in an NC State statement attributed to him.

Kochhar also said his father would have been exhilarated to have been able to see “a new generation, shaped by a different world – but connected by the same spirit of possibility that brought him here decades ago.

“And that’s what today represents.”

David Hinks, the Wilson College of Textiles leader whose deanship is named after Kochhar’s father, called Anil and Marilyn’s gift to the school’s 2026 graduates “an extraordinary investment in our newest … alumni”.

The commencement at which Kochhar spoke saw 176 students receive bachelor’s degrees. Another 26 students got master’s degrees at the ceremony, which was held at North Carolina State’s William Neal Reynolds Coliseum.

“Graduates, the world is waiting for what you create – with no friggin’ last-year debt,” Kochhar said. “Go get ‘em.”