[jhundal]

It's hard to know what the outcome of your education is going to be, so the risk of not being able to pay off a loan may just be too great. I am not aware of any elite colleges publishing statistics on things like the job placement rate and post-graduation income of lower income students. (On that note, if anyone knows where to get these numbers I would love to take a look.)

[nicholasdrake]

i don't have the numbers but it's very interesting u say that because one of my best friends and i are actually going to apply to this summer yc batch with our idea of 'human capital' where we pay for poor, but very bright students to go to university and in return they give us a small % of their lifetime income. to be honest the reason we are excited about htis idea is actually more from the investor stand-point (would love ur feedback if u're interested http://nicholasdrake.svbtle.com/human-capital-investing-in-t...). but we also thikn it has lots of nice properties from the student side in particular, debt is constant regardless of your situation, whereas as we're 'taking equity' in the students if you can't find a job or only a low paying job you pay much less. of course, to make it balance it out if you are super successful you have to pay more, but we think for poor and thus likely risk averse students this is a great way to finance an education. would be really great to have your feedback if you have time.

[lmartel]

I can't comment on the numbers because I'm not familiar with the economics of those countries, but I have a few thoughts:

1) "Human capital" sounds really icky. Think of a new buzzword.

2) "Lifetime income" again gives off a bit of an indentured servitude vibe. I haven't done market research (although going by that writeup, neither have you), but I suspect people would be much more amenable to a larger percentage (10-25%) with an expiration date (say 10 years).

[nicholasdrake]

thanks for the feedback. yeah there is a definitley a danger that human capital just gets interpreted as slavery... i studied econ at uni where human capital is kinda the positive buzz word, like invest in educating your workforce etc. etc.

u may very well be right that a higher percentage of income for a shorter period of time makes sense (or if it is lifetime income allow some buyout clause) - the big advantage of the lifetime aspect is you can basically trade future long-term consumption when you're income is higher to get higher consumption now when you're income is lower... it also allows a transfer from people who make lots of money to those who make less (when you apply to university you don't know which group you will be in)...

your feedback is really helpful, if you have time please take a look at our yc app https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224487, if it seems that we haven't done our research/holes in our thinking we defintley want to know now!! thanks so much!