Great question. I would sincerely hope it's the latter.

Companies pay up to 25% of first year salary to head hunters (or as a referral bonus), that's the budget we are after.

But you raise a very good point. We need to spell that out. Not sure how to enforce it though. Any ideas?

Self-enforcing, assuming you have assembled a decent list of companies you are recruiting for. You have created Joe, a new valuable job candidate, and if there was just one company looking for a guy like Joe, then they would make him eat the cost of tuition (reduce his comp), but since he is a great guy that five or six companies are competing for, the offers they each give him have to be competitive.

Treat and frame it like a recruiter payout but only 10% or less. Going with a model they're familiar with will reduce the friction. Great hires are never docked for recruiter fees.