How We're Paying off $50,000 in Student Loans, Even With a Job Loss During Coronavirus by Wade Thiel Last year, my wife and I paid off more than $30,000 in student loans. This year, we should pay off another $21,000. That’s $51,000 of debt eliminated in just 24 months. We didn’t inherit a large sum of money from a grandparent or a long-lost uncle. For the first time in our lives, we simply focused on our financial health.