Education Policy, Business and Technology

As Students' Debt Mounts, a New Method of Repayment Emerges

Governing: An ambitious group of seniors from Oregon’s Portland State University devised a creative plan in 2012, dubbed “Pay Forward, Pay Back,” to deal with spiraling college costs and student debt. In exchange for deferred tuition, students would contribute a chunk of their post-graduation earnings to a fund for future students, ultimately creating a self-perpetuating pool of aid passed from one generation to the next.

Unfortunately, Pay Forward, Pay Back quickly hit the wall of fiscal reality. Despite the embrace of legislators, the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission concluded that the deferred tuition plan was unaffordable, costing as much as $20 million a year for 20 years to benefit just 1,000 students annually.

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