The Wall Street Journal writes about the latest trend of a lender offering vulnerable borrowers plenty of rope to hang themselves:

“Some Americans caught in the weak job market are lining up for federal student aid, not for education that boosts their employment prospects but for the chance to take out low-cost loans, sometimes with little intention of getting a degree.”

The weakest recovery since World War II is one big factor driving people who cannot find work. But now that the federal government has taken over student lending, its policies are at the center of the problem, the paper reports. Low-rate student loans cover not just tuition and books but also living expenses. Getting student loans is easier than borrowing from a bank because, as the paper reports, “the government performs no credit checks for most student loans.”

The result is ominous:

“Take Ray Selent, a 30-year-old former retail clerk in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was unemployed in 2012 when he enrolled as a part-time student at Broward County's community college. That allowed him to borrow thousands of dollars to pay rent to his mother, cover his cellphone bill and catch the occasional movie.

“ ‘The only way I feel I can survive financially is by going back to school and putting myself in more student debt,’ says Mr. Selent, who has since added $8,000 in student debt from living expenses. Returning to school also gave Mr. Selent a reprieve on the $400 a month he owed from previous student debt because the federal government doesn't require payments while borrowers are in school.”

(Right: Ray Selent of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Photo by Andrew Kaufman for The Wall Street Journal)

So, low rates to desperate people, with no credit check and the added benefit of deferring repayment on older debt: This is your government enticing people into an ever deeper hole of debt. It means the government is encouraging young people to take longer at school and put off a productive adult life, as I have pointed out elsewhere. Our public policy has enticed our children to take on more than $1 trillion in debt, helping fuel soaring tuition rates. This is not just bad policy. It is immoral.

Students can see it’s not good. The Journal writes:

“Early last year, when Denna Merritt lost her long-term unemployment benefits, the 49-year-old Indianapolis woman enrolled part-time at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's online program, aiming for a degree in graphic design. She took out $15,000 in federal loans, $2,800 of which went to catch up on unpaid bills, including utilities, health-insurance premiums and cable.

“ ‘Obviously, it's better not to use it that way if you can help it, because you're just going to owe that much more later,’ says Ms. Merritt, a former bookkeeper.”

This shouldn't be news. The press has been reporting since at least last summer about undergrads being lent far more than they expected. U.S. News quoted one: "Every quarter I got more free money. . . . I needed new clothes. I needed a cool car. I needed a nice place to stay." He was left $40,000 in debt.

This is not something the government can just blame on greedy schools. “Even when schools suspect students are over-borrowing,” the Journal reports, “they are restricted by federal law and Education Department policy from denying funds.”

Borrowers should be responsible for taking what the government is pushing. But as the paper points out, people are often desperate. One married father going to school since 2010 put it this way:

“ ‘We've been taking whatever we can for student loans every year, taking whatever we have left over and using it to stock up the freezer just so we have a couple extra months where we don't have to worry about food,’ says Mr. Matherne, who owes $51,600 in federal loans.”

What these people need is a better chance at a good job. That requires a growing private sector confident it can make and keep profits and eager to hire the employees who will make that happen. Instead, the administration is adding an onslaught of new regulations, higher energy costs, higher health care costs, constantly changing health care rules, the threat of higher labor costs and a sneering attitude of “you didn’t build that.” No wonder the share of Americans actually employed is lower than it has been in decades.

What these people need are jobs. Instead, their government gives them easy debt.