By all accounts she was well educated; she was accepted to and attended a private university and then graduate school over seas. She also made poor financial decisions spanning a decade. I'm sure she would have rather not made those bad decisions, but it's probably safe to say she could not have made better decisions because.. She would have, but didn't.

So what's the solution here? Do people take a test to determine if they are allowed to make their own financial decisions? If they don't pass their parents or the government decides for them? Sure we can tweak the terms, put up special regulations for student loans, or increase education.. However if we accept that some people are incapable of making good financial decisions, potentially for their entire life, this problem will remain? Does this extend out past financial decisions? We could have the human equivalent of processor binning.

I messed up my credit when I was in my early 20s. I was lucky enough to find myself in a better situation in my early 30s.. I'm not convinced I have gotten much better at financial decisions or have just managed to out earn my natural spending habits. Maybe both.