Not the same thing, but I remember an article, I think it was in Whole Earth Review in the early 1980s, about a man who financed his college education by sellin

Not the same thing, but I remember an article, I think it was in Whole Earth Review in the early 1980s, about a man who financed his college education by selling bonds on himself or on his future income (I don't remember exactly how they put it, but that was pretty close) with a maturity far enough in the future that he could graduate and earn the money to pay them off. As a precaution the contract allowed him to return the money he had already collected without penalty if he wasn't able to get enough to get through college. I never saw anything about whether or how well it worked out.