New school in CA lets you pay tuition by selling shares of future self

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Is it possible to equitize human labor? For years people have talked about the idea of selling shares in one’s own talent, in the hope of attracting funds and assistance from others. Now it seems that this idea is happening at scale, through the Lambda School in California.

The Lambda School teaches information technology skills online, and it charges zero tuition and offers stipends to select students. The deal is that students pay back 17 percent of their income from the first two years of work, if earnings exceed $50,000 a year, with a maximum payment of $30,000. Students who don’t find jobs at that income level don’t pay anything. Students may also opt to pay $20,000 in tuition upfront and keep their future income.

The key benefit of equitization is that outsiders have a much greater incentive to invest in the students. If a company owns a share in your future income, it has an incentive to train and place you well and to connect you with the proper social and business networks. That could be a big leg up for many workers. And students who receive stipends have additional liquid funds, helping them to pay the rent or meet other expenses, including further investments in training. This is especially valuable for smart, hard-working students from lower-income backgrounds.

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