Just bad policy to please some interest groups.

Forbes reports.

It’s Hard To Contain Bad Policy Ideas — ‘Public Service’ Loan Forgiveness, For Example

Politicians are usually eager to be generous with the money taken from taxpayers, especially when it helps them gain favor with some interest group. A good illustration is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program passed in 2007.

Under PSLF, students who find jobs that are officially regarded as doing “public service” can get their college debts erased after 10 years of such work. College grads who don’t land such employment can sign up for another federal program that minimizes their monthly payments, but doesn’t wipe out their remaining debts until they’ve been paying the government back for at least 20 years.

Does this make any sense? After all, public employment often pays better than jobs calling for the same skill levels in the private sector, as Andrew Biggs and Jason Richwine have demonstrated. Also, job security is much stronger. The notion that it’s necessary to induce people to go into “public service” with the promise of student debt relief is badly mistaken—but it will certainly be popular with those who get to escape some of their debt.