Around the world, students borrow money to pay for college, but, in the United States, students are more likely to fall behind on loans. Australia may offer some lessons: borrowers in Australia only start paying back their loans once their earnings reach $40,000, and beyond that they pay four percent of their income until the loans are repaid. The system does not penalize borrowers when they face economic hardship.

Several private colleges are considering an alternative to traditional student grants and loans - Income Share Agreements (ISAs) - in which colleges or outside capital sources provide loans to students with the promise that students will pay a percentage of their income with no interest for a set period of time after graduation. Critics argue that the arrangement will simply add to existing student debt and favor students in higher-paying math and science majors, programs in which minorities lack proportionate representation. Can colleges adjust the financing model to take into account these concerns?

Low-income students are always looking for ways to finance their education. A new system using “human capital contracts” to pay for higher education isn’t as scary as it sounds.

For millions of students who could succeed in college, the limiting factor is money. Is it possible to finance higher education the way we finance start-up companies? A company called Lumni uses “human capital contracts” to offer loans for students contingent upon 14 percent of the student's salary for 118 months after graduation. There are risks to this approach and not a lot of years or data available to be sure of its efficacy, but results are promising already—with a default rate under 3 percent.

In response to the rising cost of college and a changing labor market, several startups are offering an alternative to traditional 4-year higher education programs. In exchange for on average one year of training in computer programming at no cost upfront, students turn over a portion of their salary for a set number of years after graduating. If they are not offered a job within a certain period of time, students don't have to pay. "How many people have tried to learn programming on their own and not made it?" co-founder of Lambda School said. "Usually that's just a matter of not sticking it out ."