What's an ISA, you ask. Income-Share Agreement. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, conservatives really like the idea. Former Indiana Governor, now university president, Daniels started offering such agreements to Purdue's students this year. Under such an arrangement, an investor helps pay a student's college costs in return for which s/he gets a percentage of the graduate's earnings later.
Earlier this month the Purdue Foundation signed a letter of intent with Vemo, an outfit that specializes in designing ISA programs.
Liberals reportedly don't think much of the idea. But conservatives do, since it uses free-market forces to finance higher education. The concept looks a lot like a plan that Jeb Bush rolled out during the presidential primaries last year.
While liberals don't much like this notion, some support a similar arrangement under which the states would become the investors.
Under Purdue's program, students will get a $50,000 line of credit. Repayment after graduation will be tied to the alumna's earnings. The investor presumably shares the grad's risk. If one prospers, both prosper. If the grad falters, so does the return on investment.
Some conservatives call this model "elegant." The student invests in her/himself. It acknowledges the right's view that college is mainly about making more money later in life.
For liberals the objections may be more philosophical than economic. First, some say that education is about more than money. Second, many believe that the obligation of paying for college is not the student's. Rather, they argue, society should shoulder the burden of educating its citizens... thus Hillary Clinton's campaign promise of free college.
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