Investing in Human Capital: Private Financing of Higher Education

As four-year colleges and universities continue to increase their tuitions and fees, more students and their families will invest even larger portions of their income in a college education and many will incur large amounts of debt. An alternative way to pay for a college education is through human capital contracts—a private, market-oriented alternative to government loans—as described in a new Cato study by Miguel Palacios. Students obtain human capital contracts in much the same way that they apply for student loans currently, except the amount to be repaid is flexible, based on the student’s salary after graduation from college. Please join us for a serious discussion of the economic and moral implications of human capital contracts and their potential for helping young people obtain a college education.