Most higher education finance literature assumes that students cannot pledge their future earnings to finance their education in a free society. Investing in Human Capital, first published in 2004, challenges that assumption and explores human capital contracts as an alternative mechanism for financing higher education. Investing in Human Capital tracks the roots of the idea behind human capital contracts, discusses the beneficial consequences they would have on students and on higher education markets, and describes how they can develop in light of the innovations that have taken place in financial markets during the last decades. The book also explores the challenges - ethical and financial - that such instruments face and offers implementation alternatives that can bring about their existence in the context of a national higher education financing programme.

This study recommends employing "human capital contracts" wherein students agree to pay a percentage of their income over time in exchange for funds to finance their education. The main difference between "human capital contracts" and loans is the variable value of the payments students make during the repayment period. Their financial consequences, of risk transfer from students to investors and increased information regarding future graduates' earnings, make the contracts an attractive alternative in funding higher education.