A student at the University of Michigan-Flint looked into the crystal ball and saw visions of student loan debt. But what if he could figure out a way to pay off that pile of debt before he even enters the job market? And so the young man started a campaign to sell advertising space on the top of his graduation cap.

“It’s scary to think I’m about to go out into this economy and try to find a job and have all this debt I’ll have to start paying,” the 22-year-old tells the Detroit Free Press. “I started thinking, ‘Do I have anything available I could sell?’ ”

At $300 for a 1″ x 1″ portion of his cap, he’s asking a premium price for what may not be much of a return for advertisers. Of course, some company could see a publicity opportunity in this and buy out the whole mortarboard for $30,000, which would probably be good enough to get them some coverage in the local media and online.

He’s also willing to let advertisers go 3-D with their paid placements.

“If you want to buy four of them and put a little figurine up there on my hat, I’m fine with it,” says the senior.

So far, he’s found four backers willing to ante up the money for the miniature ads, with others chipping in anywhere from $10 for a personal thank you letter from the student to $100, which includes the thank you note, a badly drawn sketch of the backer, a mention of gratitude on his YouTube channel, and a five-minute phone conversation on any topic.

As of posting this story, he’s already raised $2,821, with 100 days to go to meet his goal of $30,000.

“My girlfriend thinks I’m crazy, but everyone has been pretty supportive,” explains the international business major, who can at least use clips like this to help get a foot in the door when it comes time to interview for a job. “I like to try new things, to think differently. I think this does that.”

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