The only problem they were created to solve was soaking future taxpayers with debt and a devalued currency, while keeping taxes low in the past and present.

The government should either fund higher education directly, or give students cash.

This is the same playbook with deferred compensation like defined benefit pensions and retiree healthcare for government employees. Government avoids paying cash now so taxes are lower now, and use liberal accounting assumptions to understate the debt.

> The only problem they were created to solve was soaking future taxpayers with debt and a devalued currency, while keeping taxes low in the past and present.

They were created to allow poor kids to fund their education with a vehicle other than government grants.

> The government should either fund higher education directly, or give students cash.

Maybe, maybe not. There is a cost/benefit argument to be made there, but I doubt you have the information necessary to say this with the level of certainty you are presenting.

> This is the same playbook with deferred compensation like defined benefit pensions and retiree healthcare for government employees. Government avoids paying cash now so taxes are lower now, and use liberal accounting assumptions to understate the debt.

There are differences in the risk, and therefore pricing of these two forms of government debt, but yes, the government, like all entities, tries to pay things off as late as possible.