Periodically, the Singapore government complains about government scholarship holders who 'break' their bond: those who, after graduating from university, instead of working their required 6-8 years in the civil service, they return the money to the government and go their own way. The government argues that people like these are taking advantage of the system: they are taking up scholarships which could go to others who desperately want the scholarships, and are not able to afford an education at a good university otherwise. The arguments for and against breaking the bond to the government have been well articulated by both sides and it is not my place to judge their merits.

Instead, my idea is inspired by something Rich explained to me: that if, upon graduating from Law School, he were to go into public service, he would have most of the loans he took out to pay for Law School forgiven. Perhaps Singapore could use such a system. Rather than offer all their money upfront to 18 year old Singaporeans who have no clear idea of what they want to do once they graduate, they could offer to pay a graduate the equivalent of the amount of money they would have given a scholarship holder over the period of their education. This money could be used by the graduate to pay off their loans, put a down payment on a house, go on a holiday- whatever. But it seems to me that the risk of the money invested being returned to the government with no direct yield, they could instead bid for the services of graduates with good results, who are more likely to stay in the job longer as they have a clearer idea of what they want and where they want to go in their lives.