NEW YORK — Costco.
Com.
has sold more than 1,000 furniture items to help students ease their student loan payments, the company said Friday.
Costco said in a statement that the sale was the largest sale in the company’s history and was in conjunction with the sale of the furniture from the family of the late George B. King.
King, a Costco executive, founded the company in 1946 and built it into a leading retail chain in the U.S.
In the sale, the family, which includes the sons of the company founder, sold some 1,500 chairs, beds, couches and other furniture.
Costos also announced that it has hired former Wall Street Journal reporter and author Bill Keller to lead a “profound, multifaceted conversation” on the economic impact of college affordability.
Costa Rican President Oscar Lopez Sanchez said the company would donate $100 million to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the largest federal investment in the economy in recent history.
Costs of living, rising home prices, rising gas prices, and the effects of Hurricane Harvey have led many students to consider deferring the start of their first year of college, according to a recent report from the nonprofit group American College Health Association.
The average college graduate is now 27 years old, but students are starting college at a higher rate than in recent years, the group found.