Megan Thee Stallion became Megan Thee Graduate over the weekend as the 26-year-old took part in Texas Southern University’s commencement ceremony. Now, armed with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Administration, the rapper plans to put it to great use.
In 2019, she shared how dropping out of college wasn’t an option for her and revealed her post-grad plans of opening living facilities. Now, she intends on making her dream a reality. “I’m still going to open up these assisted living facilities and I definitely want to hire new college graduates,” she shared with Rolling Stone. “Nobody ever wants to hire you fresh out of college. They feel like you have no experience, so I want to create a place where you can get experience.”
When she first came onto the rap scene, Megan was an undergrad at Prairie View A&M University and studying nursing. She eventually switched her major and started rapping while attending a community college before settling at TSU. Despite personal obstacles, she continued to pursue her studies. Last semester, she tackled five courses because she was ready to be done. With the help of her team, she kept her promise of graduating to her late mother and grandmother.
“Every time I had an assignment or something due, one of my managers would just pull me to the side and be like, ‘Hey Megan, you know you got to do this presentation today.’ Or ‘Hey Megan, you know you got to turn this assignment in today,'” she said. “They would just come up on me at random times telling me what I had to do. It’s probably good it worked out like that because I don’t like feeling like, oh my gosh, I have to do this, I have to do that. Just spring it on me. I would have not been successful this semester without my team.”
TSU, but specifically her dean, Dr. Rasmus, was equally supportive. “For a little while they didn’t know I was a rapper until one day I came and I was like, ‘I think I’m about to go on tour, so is it a way I could continue my degree online? What can I do?’ And they were like, what are you talking about? I finally told them everything I had going on […] My Dean, Dr. Rasmus, she was on my butt all the time like an aunt: ‘You need to do this, make sure you’re doing that.’ She definitely helped me throughout the whole way.”
For fellow women of color pursuing higher education, the Good News phenom provided two students with $10,000 scholarships and sponsored a full ride for one student to attend the new Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University over the summer. TSU also has a scholarship fund in Megan’s honor called Thee Megan Fund, which anyone can donate to.