A 28-year-old who paid off $102,000 of student loans says not everyone can do it

Liz Knueven

Oct 22, 2019, 18:00 IST

A 28-year-old who paid off $102,000 of student loans says not everyone can do it

Mike Arrison Photography

Mandy Velez celebrates her student loan repayment.

New York City resident Mandy Velez paid off $102,000 of student loans in six years.
She says that while her loan payoff strategy - a combination of using the debt snowball and hustling to increase her income through side jobs while slashing her expenses - worked for her, not everyone is able to do what she did.
She says she had two advantages not to be overlooked: a lack of other major responsibilities that would take her time and money, and a stable job with regular raises.
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Right after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in English and communications, Mandy Velez moved to New York City. She had $75,000 worth of student loan debt.

She had three public student loans totaling $30,500, with interest rates between 9% and 12%. Additionally, she had two federal loans, one direct subsidized student loan and one unsubsidized, totaling $45,091 at 6%.

Velez calculated that if she were to make only the minimum monthly payment on her loans, she'd pay them off around the year 2046, and she'd pay about $96,000 in interest alone.

Instead, Velez spent six years taking on odd jobs, slashing her spending, and giving up spending time with friends, family, and her partner to pay off her loans. She paid them off on August 2, 2019, after using the debt snowball method to tackle the smallest ones first.

But her hustle and smart spending was only part of what it took to pay her loans off. She says she had two advantages not to be overlooked: a lack of other major responsibilities that would take her time and money, and a stable job with regular raises.

She was able to count on her income, and focus on her loans

In her Facebook post, which has since gone viral, she was candid about the reasons why she doesn't think others should compare their loan payoff journeys to hers. "Lots of people will see my story and say, 'see, if she could do it, so can you.' But I don't think that," Velez wrote. "Not everyone can do this. Maybe due to lack of jobs, ability or other compounding responsibilities."

Without the responsibility of children or a family, she was able to spend time working on her side hustles, prioritize her spending on her loan payments, and put extra money towards her loans. She was able to arrange her life around this goal in a way she may not have otherwise been able to if she had other major financial responsibilities. "My loan payment came first and then I had to figure out my life around that," she said.

She turned down jobs that didn't help her meet that goal, and chose to have longer commutes in order to save money. "All of my decisions were based off of what I could afford," she said.

She worked various jobs with salaries ranging from $40,000 to $80,000 per year - nearly double the median US income of $24,000 per year for a 22-year-old and $40,000 per year for a 28-year-old, as Business Insider's Andy Kierz reports.

"What really helped me was getting a raise and being fortunate enough to have a steady full time job," said Velez, who was laid off once and worked temp jobs during her loan payoff journey, before finally landing her current role as a senior social media editor at The Daily Beast.

Raises were also a big help with her payoff. According to a new study by Insider and Morning Consult, about a quarter of Americans in the workforce haven't had a raise in over three years, or have never had one at all. Among millennials specifically, Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback reports that 19% have not had a raise in three years or have never had one.

She says being able to pay her loans was a privilege

As far as her advice for others wanting to pay off debt, she told Business Insider, "the advice that I have is mainly geared toward people who are at a stable financial place in their lives. They're a little bit privileged."

She advises "intensely cutting your budget," which for her meant taking more public transportation and using ridesharing less, and cutting back on groceries and impulse buys. "The second component is increasing income," she said, referring to the side jobs and raises that helped her earn more.

But, she says, it's not as simple as it sounds. "I feel like some people might look at my success and feel like, 'Oh, look, if she can do it, it's super easy,'" said Velez. "It's quite opposite. It's not easy at all."