Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Does it have a future?

The program is poised to begin next fall, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

But nobody, not even the US Department of Education, knows what its prospects are.  Some say it defines "public service" too broadly and allows too much forgiveness.  The DOE thinks some 350,000 debtors could get a $6 billion windfall.

And then, of course, there is --- as with all else --- the Trump factor.  Will the Republican President and his Republican Congress condone the program or condemn it to the trash heap before it even gets underway?  Ain't nobody knows... probably not even the Donald at this point in time.

In the Sixties, National Defense loans were the student-borrower's drug of choice.  And the range of deferrals and forgivenesses was wide.  If you taught in the public schools you could get a chunk of forgiveness.  If you stayed in grad school or served in the military, the loans were deferred until you were in the civilian workforce.  (Or at least that's my recollection.)

One other thing that I can remember: in the Seventies, the interest rate on federal loan money was so low, one could borrow from Uncle Sam with the right hand, and reinvest the money in relatively safe but higher-returning financial vehicles with the left.

That fact points us back to critics' concerns that the program as written is way too vague and way too generous.

However, programs that entice young people into genuine public service could be win-win propositions: not only debt relief but also fulfilling life experiences for the new grads, and the addressing of needs that the profit motive has failed to address.