When you raise money you take on certain ethical obligations. I owe it to my investors to try my damnedest to make the company succeed. I owe it to them to try to give them a good return on their money. I do not owe it to them to reimburse them the money if I fail. At all. There's no debt of gratitude.
If my startup dies and I go down swinging, then I'll know I gave it my best shot. That will suck, but they knew that was the risk going in. I won't lose sleep feeling like I ripped them off, just as I won't feel they ripped me off if I succeed and write them a check for millions of dollars. (I'd actually be quite happy to do so.)
Student loans, on the other hand, leave you saddled with debt that's hard to get rid of even with bankruptcy. There are a lot of people graduating with law degrees right now who are screwed. I imagine startup failure is painful, but not going to ruin your standard of living for the next 10+ years.
I don't know the particulars of this case. Maybe Jody's depression made him unable to live with mistakes he (or someone else on his team) made in good faith. Maybe he did something unethical and couldn't live with being found out. It's tragic either way.