Janet Lynn Parker is a middle-aged elementary school art teacher from Arkansas. She graduated in 1991 from Arkansas State University with a degree in art education and $25,000 in student loan debt. Unable to find a job in her field of study, she bounced around from job to job until 1999, when she finally found employment at a public school at an annual salary barely over $20,000. Over that time, her financial mounting difficulties forced her to ask for multiple forbearances and deferments on her student loan, pushing the balance of her educational debt up to about $70,000.

To add injury to insult, Parker broke her back in a boating accident in 2000. It left her in a back brace for months after the incident, and reliant on pain medication to get her through the day. In spite of it all, she continued to teach and to care for her young granddaughters during the summer months, when school was out of session. Still, the strains took a toll on her family and her marriage. Parker and her husband separated in 2003 and divorced in 2004. With her student loan, credit card, retail, and medical debts running far beyond her ability to pay them, she finally filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Because of the peculiarities of US bankruptcy law, she had to file a separate petition to seek a discharge of her student loan debt. Despite the long odds ranged against her, she actually won: the bankruptcy judge in her case agreed with her claim that her student loan debt constituted an “undue hardship” and should therefore be wiped out.

But the story didn’t end there. Parker’s creditor, the Student Loan Guarantee Foundation of Arkansas, appealed the bankruptcy court’s decision, bringing the case before a federal bankruptcy appellate panel. Despite the ample evidence that Parker’s educational debt was ruining her life, the panel decided to reverse the lower court’s ruling and compel her to continue making payments on her loans.