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Comment by londons_explore | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to see a new funding model for universities.

I'd like to see universities be able to register for a share of tax revenue from their students post-graduation.

For example "This course costs 5% extra income tax for 20 years".

Then, you pay nothing for the course, but after you graduate you pay a 5% higher tax rate, and that extra money goes to the university. The IRS would administer the scheme since they already have to do all the math anyway for every taxpayer.

This gives the university a strong incentive to make sure their students are productive. They'll help push students into studying finance rather than 'soccer studies'.

Obviously the university needs money now, not in 20 years, but private lenders can help cover that gap (and then the lender also has an incentive to make sure the university is doing a good job educating students).

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This is just an Income Share Agreement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_share_agreement

The one problem with this scheme is that it turns colleges into job training and nothing else. They would most likely drop any major that doesn't make a lot of future money.

There is still value in providing philosophy courses and music and art and all the other things that don't lead directly to high paying jobs.

Well some philosophy majors will still end up earning a decent amount.

So the philosophy department will still be earning - just less.

They could also charge a higher percentage of future income to make up for the loss of earnings.

This value is nowhere near 200 thousand dollars, and everyone knows it

For whom? John Lennon, Qunicy Jones, Yo-Yo-Ma might disagree with that. John WIlliams, Alicia Keys? It's fine to point out that almost nobody with that education gets to that level of fame, but, I dunno, I'd value it at well over $200k if I were Phillip GLass, Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead), or Herbie Hancock.

I agree, the price must come down. But how do we get the price to come down while still making sure poor kids get a chance to study?

government investment so the professors get paid, the students don't pay through the nose, paid back in the form of taxes, not crippling student loans. some, just not crippling debt.

MOOCs (Massive open online courses).

Yeah, that's an idea. Purdue used to have that, but at some point they stopped https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/06/23/purdue-pauses...

Ultimately, I think it's a market non-optimal way if you're the university since student loans allow you to decouple pricing entirely and completely derisk the student.

Fun fact, some schools do the opposite of this. Slightly oversimplifying, but the schools say "we'll raise your tuition by $x and give you ~$x in grants after you graduate if your income is below $y". It's most common for people in law school that know they'll be working for the government (eg prosecutor/public defender), so their income is mostly predetermined and they'll be eligible for loan forgiveness regardless. Win/win for the colleges and the students.

I think some places have tried it before, but if it's optional then people who think they will earn a lot will just get a traditional loan, and people who think they will earn less get the income based one. So it ends up not being economical to offer.

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