I’ve worked in courtrooms where people are collecting a lot less than $2600. A bounced check for $10 can turn into a claim for $100 plus $200 in attorneys fees. Is that fair? Well, how would you like to be the merchant who had 100 of these and everyone said ‘oh, it’s only $10. It’s not fair for the merchant to get repaid $100.’ It’s not $10 to the store owner, it’s $1000.
It may have only been a student loan for $1500, but the government has millions of them to collect, and it adds up to a lot of lost revenue if they just let the little loans go. My money, as a citizen.