A new way emerges to cover college tuition. But is it a better way?

Last fall, Point Loma began offering some of its 4,500 students money to pay for college in exchange for a percentage of their future earnings. The model, known as an income share agreement, requires colleges and students to take a chance on each other, a shared responsibility that attracted Point Loma. [...]

“If you’re making a bet on students by their major, there’s a chance of reinforcing existing inequalities,” said Mark Huelsman, a policy analyst at Demos, a liberal think tank. “There are massive racial disparities in returns on a college degree.”

He said that African Americans and Hispanics often earn less money than whites in comparable jobs. What’s more, minority graduates disproportionately obtain more degrees in low-paying fields, such as education. As a result, income share agreements that place a premium on certain fields could put minority graduates at a disadvantage.