"Here's why. Harvard, Yale, and Stanford fund their own programs; they don't rely on the government. At every other school, what the school essentially does is have you go on IBR and then pays your IBR payment. There are many potential problems with this:
- PSLF could go away in ten years. (This is more than idle speculation, by the way. Obama's proposed 2015 budget guts PSLF into something barely usable for law school students. There's no way that budget will pass, mind you, but if that's Obama's position you could imagine what may occur under a different administration.)
- Even if it doesn't you MUST work all ten years in the public sector or NONE of the debt is forgiven.
- You might actually wind up with MORE debt if you leave before ten years because IBR doesn't always cover the interest accrued.
- The entire scheme is at the mercy of the government.
- The job must be PSLF eligible (LIPP is slightly broader than that, covering ANY legal employment even if private and ANY non-profit or public job.)
Why is that important? Because bigfed and other competitive sector stuff is INSANELY competitive now due to budget cuts. Many people who want to work in government have a tough time getting full time public sector work. (Even at Harvard and Yale - that's how tough it is.) LIPP is structured to be flexible for the varied careers that people actually have, not for the ideal careers people imagine. IF you land a bigfed job right out of school and IF you keep that job ten years and IF PSLF doesn't go away then you might have done better under Chicago's plan. But that's a lot of if's.
Flexibility is important the other direction too. Many public sector jobs have private exit options that can be lucrative after a few years, and the value people place on money changes over time. Many young people can live pretty comfortably on a public interest salary, but sometimes later on they will have kids and want a big house, private school, etc. and they may decide they want to go private for a few years to pay for it."
