Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he is donating $1.8 billion to his former school, Johns Hopkins University on Sunday. Bloomberg said he is doing so to increase financial aid for low- and middle-income students at the university in Baltimore, Maryland. The Chronicle of Higher Education says it is the largest financial gift ever to any education institution in the world. The largest donation to higher education had been a gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1999, the private organization launched the Gates Millennium Scholars program with a $1 billion commitment over 20 years. The next largest donation listed went to Vedanta University in Konark, India. The Anil Agarwal Foundation spent about $1 billion to help establish the school in 2006. Johns Hopkins representatives said the gift will make it possible for the school to remove student loans as part of its financial aid offerings starting next fall.