Blair Levin, non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program and oversaw the development of the 2010 United States National Broadband Plan, writes:  In 1973, I applied to Yale (CT) on a lark.  I started my college experience at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  But halfway through the first semester of my sophomore year at UCSC, I dropped out to work on Tom Bradley’s mayoral campaign. After the victory, I expected to return to UCSC, though I did apply to transfer to Yale.  When I was accepted, I had no idea how to pay for it. Then I got an unusual offer. In exchange for a percentage of my income after graduation, Yale would front me the cost of tuition.