Money ‘My loans are dead’: 28-year-old pays off $102K in student loans, celebrates in cemetery October 12, 2019 Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY Comments Off on ‘My loans are dead’: 28-year-old pays off $102K in student loans, celebrates in cemetery Mandy Velez graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013 and had accrued more than $102,000 in student debt over the course of six years.