Invest in education!

I had this idea from poker:

A rich guy who may or may not be good at poker may 'stake' a good player who is lacking his own money to play with. Usually the arrangement is that the stakee plays with the money and the staker gets 50% of profits (and incurs all the risk). The stakee is incentivized because they can also make money and they are relieved of the mental overhead of worrying about losing all their own money. Win-win!

Could we do the same for education?

Suppose I am wealthy and wanted to invest in a way that directly benefits our future. I could give my money as stake "grants" to students who would otherwise be taking out student loans and, regardless of their prospects after, be forced to pay all those back (and even bankruptcy won't wipe student loans!). Putting the risk onto the student could be a barrier to entry for many (I really don't know these details off-hand, but it feels true) and have a set amount they need to pay back could negate whatever income they start to get. With a grant+comission system, I could take on the risk instead. The student would be free from the pressures of immediate payments and could better find the job/direction/entrepreneurship they really want to do. I just wait until they start making money, and depending on the terms of the grant get some cut. Naturally my return should be higher than for a standard loan, but it could really be a win-win. We both do better if they perform. Because the grant would be incentivized for both the staker and stakee, the stakers could make more money available for high-productivity fields. Conventional loans would still be in place for other fields.