Here's How Far Jeff Bezos' Ex MacKenzie Scott Made It In School

Given how much MacKenzie Scott's reputation is changing now that she's no longer married to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, one might be wondering more about Scott's background, including her education. Scott graduated from Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, in 1988, then went on to Princeton University, earning a bachelor's degree in English from the Ivy League institution. 

At Princeton, Scott was mentored by award-winning and critically acclaimed writer Toni Morrison, who was teaching at the university. Morrison talked about Scott as a student in a 2013 Vogue profile of the now-philanthropist, saying Scott was, "one of the best students I've ever had in my creative-writing classes ... really one of the best."

In that same profile, Scott credited Morrison as one reason for her choosing to attend Princeton. Her time at Princeton also led to Scott signing with literary agent Amanda "Binky" Urban, who was recommended to her by Morrison herself. Scott went on to publish two books: "The Testing of Luther Albright" in 2005 and "Traps" in 2013. She also explained to Vogue that prior to her first book's publication, she had stopped writing consistently to focus on her kids. Scott eventually found ways to still write while parenting, such as renting an apartment to work in while her children were at school.

MacKenzie Scott's years at Princeton deeply affected her, even outside of the connections she made with Toni Morrison and her agent. In a December 2025 essay on the official website for Yield Giving (Scott's charitable foundation), she highlighted her feelings on the importance of small acts of kindness, and how they can have positive unintended outcomes. 

"Whose generosity did I think of every time I made every one of the thousands of gifts I've been able to give?" Scott wrote. One of her stories was detailing how a roommate once let her borrow money for tuition: "It was the college roommate who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year." In the years since then, Scott has donated a lot of money to different organizations, including the one that former roommate started.

According to a report from Forbes, in 2025 alone Scott gave over $1 billion to higher education institutions, with the outlet reporting that HBCUs in particular received more than $750 million. Based on this, one can conclude how important college and education are to Scott.