Curley, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, retired in 2014. In an interview with CNBC, she recalled a case from 2012 in which a 73-year-old woman appeared before her with a student loan balance of more than $584,000. The debt, dating back to the 1970s, had grown throughout the woman's public sector career. By the time she sought relief, she was living in poverty with Social Security as her only income.
"We allow the financial markets to take innumerable risks, yet we refuse to allow an individual to be forgiven for choosing to pursue an advanced degree," Curley wrote.
Curley's critique touches on a long-standing feature of U.S. bankruptcy law: student loans are notoriously difficult to discharge, requiring borrowers to prove an "undue hardship" in court — a standard that many judges apply inconsistently. The rising number of bankruptcy filings, which the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported as up 11 percent in 2025 from the prior year, adds context to her argument that the system is failing.
Curley said people often assume those who file for bankruptcy are committing fraud or trying to cheat creditors. She argued that in reality, many borrowers are overwhelmed by life events such as illness, job loss, or, in this case, decades of accruing interest on education debt.