State Lawmakers Consider a 'Pay-It-Forward' College Tuition Model

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Under the proposal, college students would attend school for free. But they’d then pay a percentage of their future income for a set number of years after graduation to fund the program.

State Representative David Knezek is a co-sponsor of the bill.

“If you were to attend University of Michigan for four years you would payback four percent of your salary for the next 20 years," Knezek says. "And we’re doing this one a on a one-to-five ratio. So for every one year you attend you pay back five. So with the university example there, you’re paying 20 years because you went to the university for four.”

Knezek says the bill would create a five-year pilot involving 200 college students to test the model.

The measure is currently in committee.