Indian origin philanthropist pays off student debt for 176 students in US college, says ‘My father could not have imagined’

Indian-American philanthropist Anil Kochhar surprised students at North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles graduation ceremony on May 8 by announcing that he and his wife, Marilyn, would cover the final-year education loans of the college’s graduates for the 2025-26 academic year. The announcement came as Kochhar addressed the graduating class at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

Kochhar told the graduates: “It is my privilege to announce today that, in honour of my father Prakash Chand Kochhar, Marilyn and I are providing a graduation gift to cover all the final-year education loans incurred by Wilson College graduates during the 2025-26 academic year.” The hall erupted in cheers after the announcement.

Kochhar said he hoped the gift would allow students to move ahead without financial pressure. “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 said.

During the speech, Kochhar spoke of his father, Prakash Chand Kochhar, who travelled from Punjab to Raleigh in 1946 to study at what is now the Wilson College of Textiles. “Eighty years ago, a young man travelled thousands of miles from India to Raleigh with little more than hope and determination. He could not have known where that journey would lead. 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,” he said.

“My father could not have imagined this moment. Not just me standing here, but all of you sitting here. 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,” he added.

Prakash Chand Kochhar was the second Indian student to enrol at the college in 1946. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1950 and his master’s degree in 1952 before joining the textile industry. The Kochhar family later made the US their home. After his death in 1985, his wife Christine Hayes Kochhar, whom he had met at the North Carolina college, created the Prakash Chand Kochhar Memorial Textile Scholarship for the university in 1986.

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Anil Kochhar and Marilyn later expanded that legacy through three more gifts to the university: the Prakash Chand Kochhar Dean’s Chair Endowment, which supports the dean or general resources for the college; the Prakash Chand Kochhar Endowed Faculty Fund, which provides awards for five-year terms and supports recruitment, student work with faculty members, professional development, travel and research; and the Prakash Chand Kochhar Graduate Support Endowment, which supports graduate students in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science with research, travel and conference attendance.

According to Axios Raleigh, the graduating class included 176 students who received bachelor’s degrees and 26 who earned master’s degrees.

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