There are lots of reasons, bae. You are aware of this.
You are an incredibly smart guy -- super-high IQ, math skills, etc.
Not everyone is as smart as you. I admire you for coming from a hillbilly culture and making amazing strides in life. But remember than your life and what you have done is not the rubric for judging others.
For instance, a person of average intelligence may come from a family who is financially literate. So this person may bumble their way through university and take out very few loans (by living at home, starting out at community college, putting away some savings from summer jobs, etc.) and walk away with no crushing debt. They did not have to be a genius to do this. They just had the good fortune to be brought up by reasonably financially literate parents.
I took out loans for lots of reasons, some of them were really dumb -- especially when I look back through the lens of frugality I have now.
But I try to make the best of it by being on the PSLF program, working for the gubmint, and spreading the word to others: "Avoid loans!" or "Get on the PSLF program!" or "Get on income-based repayment."
I also try to explain all the little loopholes and pitfalls to others too, so maybe they can either avoid getting this monkey on their back or get the monkey off their back sometime soon-ish.