Proposal offers college tuition alternative

By Annaliese Davis. John Burbank, a Seattle-based liberal policy analyst, had been studying the escalation of college tuition for several years when, in 2012, he hit on a plan to help students complete higher education degrees without going into thousands of dollars of debt.
Frustrated by the state’s disinvestment in higher education — which Burbank calls “a financial and psychological barrier for students” — he proposed that the state charge nothing upfront if students agreed to return a small share of their future income.
Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, took his idea to Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor. Seaquist liked the idea, but couldn’t find the money to put it into action. Read more...