Stakeholding liberates college graduates from the burden of debt and offers unprecedented opportunities for the tens of millions who don't go to college. For the first time, high school graduates lacking a college degree will confront the labor market with a certain sense of security. The stake will give them the independence to choose where to live, whether to marry, and how to train for economic opportunity. We should structure the program to maximize the successes. It will also provide a beacon of hope to kids locked in rural poverty or urban ghettos.
Timing is crucial.
The result will change the way young people think about themselves, their options, and their obligations to society. Begin with the college-bound. Stakeholding will also inaugurate a new era of healthy competition in higher education. Every student will enter the market with significant resources and an incentive to shop carefully. The prospect of stakeholding might initially tempt colleges to raise tuition, but competition among schools should keep increases down.