That is like saying people should hit themselves in the head with a hammer to learn what "hurt" means. I would reply as the playwright said, "You don't have to die to write a death scene.
What we have here is a large part of the population trying to use logic with a brain fart stuck in their heads. For example, some huge number of people casually assume that you can't get a good job without a college degree. That is just [fill in your favorite bad word]. Truck drivers make as much as college grads, and truck driver schools are running almost empty classes. Plenty of people get engineering jobs without a degree just because they are able to do the work. Myself for example.
The bottom line is you do not need permission from some school to learn things. And the schools are doing a lousy job. They won't even teach people how to do well in school.
"The final analysis, as I see it, is that the graphic is either: (1) A complete lie; or (2) The result of getting too many breaks and not being responsible with the loan. Probably the former."
That is why I was asking if it could indeed be true, seems according to what she wrote that the loan was 'paid faithfully' for23 year, it is possible that after paying for 23 years she simply stopped paying and hence the accrued remaining debt of $45,276.
The full argument I linked talks about how she must have been paying less than the interest payment the whole time. The use of the word "faithfully" is probably distracting. It's doubtful she was paying on the principle at all. Ergo, she was paying only part of the fee to borrow.
If you loaned me $10, you're out that $10. You can't invest it anywhere and you lose out on that revenue. If our agreement states that I have to pay you $1 per week as a "rental fee" to cover your losses until I give you the full $10 back, you're entitled to that $1 each week to cover your losses. It would be smart of me to find a way to give you that $10 back quickly, so I can stop paying the weekly rental fee. If I only give you 50 cents each week, I could argue I've paid "faithfully." Indeed, I may have, but that doesn't mean you haven't lost money on me because I haven't paid the rental fee, nor have I paid back the lump sum. You would deserve the full $10 back, as well as any of the rental fees I haven't paid.
C.D.R. 