TIL Natty Light Has A Student Debt Relief Program

Back in college, I was more of a Keystone gal myself, but plenty of my friends spent their pocket change on massive cases of Natural Light. It's the beer that goes down easy and comes back up even easier, fueling many a drunken night of streaking across the quad. (Not me. I would never do that.)

I haven't thought about Natty Light in years—until today, when I learned that the brand has a college debt relief program. If you ask me, it's a nice effort to give back to the college students who chug Natty until they're emboldened to steal a ficus from a shitty fraternity house. (Also not me. I... would not do such a thing.)

According to the brand's website, Natural Light awards $1 million worth of grants to help 25 students pay down their loans every year. To apply for this year's round of funding, you have to post a video of yourself on social media and tag the brand by March 21. I actually found about about the initiative after receiving a press release announcing that Natty Light had unveiled "the world's new most expensive piece of art," which the brand is calling The Da Vinci of Debt. The installation features 2,600 college diplomas which, added together, represent an estimated $470 million dollars. According to the release, that sum tops most expensive piece of art ever sold at public auction—Salvator Mundi, a 600-year-old Da Vinci painting that sold for $450 million in 2017.

"The art world is filled with absurd price tags that most people find impossible to justify," said Daniel Blake, Vice President of Value Brands at Anheuser-Busch, in the release. "That's what made it the perfect medium for this campaign. It's a very fitting analogy for the outrageous cost of attending a typical four-year college."

According to the press release, the Natural Light team is "open to entertaining bidders" to help fund the debt relief program. Will I be bidding? No. But I may spend some time waxing poetic about my friend who once drank enough watered-down beer that she felt inspired to leap from the back of a moving pontoon boat. Once again, not me. Definitely not me.