Loan forgiveness sounds like an awesome idea.  It is but just like any other idea, it's the execution of that idea that makes it great or just more bureaucracy.  First, most loans accumulate interest on the day the money is dispersed but some loan’s interest is covered by the government and the other loans have the interest accumulated.  Which means that if you took out a loan of $10,000, by the time you have to start paying it could be $13,000 or more because of interest.  The real problem comes when you are dealing with much larger amounts.  Obviously, the greater your loan amount, the faster your interest can climb.  However, there's more.