1. what is an Income-Share Agreement anyway?
A contractual agreement in which a person receives funds in exchange for an agreed upon percentage of their income over a defined number of years.

2. Design of Income-Share Agreement (ISA) vary
Design element
Federal Direct Loans
Private tuition replacement model
Supplementing current aid (Purdue)
Pay it forward (Oregon)
Goal
Provide basic level of support to all students with reasonable terms to supplement generous need-based grants
Permit students to pay no tuition. They are charged a refundable deposit.
Offer students an option to provide additional resources with income-flexible repayment alternative.
Replace current tuition & fee with a small, predetermined percentage of future income, for a fixed amount of time.
Interest
Interest rate set referenced to T bill. Currently between 3.76 & 6.84%.
None
No interest charge per se but borrower is obligated to repay a maximum of 2.5 times the amount borrowed. Depending on a number of factors, the effective interest rate likely is approximately 7.2%.
No interest charged per se but borrowers must pay for 20 years with no opportunity to resolve the debt early.
Income-based repayment option
10% of income for up to 20 years (10 years if engaged in public service)
18% of first years salary.
Between 8.77% and 9.94% of income for between 92 and 116 months.
Between 1.5% for community college and 4% for 4-year college graduates for 20 years.