Something quite unexpected happened to me: I managed to pay off a student loan nearly a year before I go up for tenure! Who'd have thunk it?
Here's the letter they sent me, with a bit of reading between the lines:
Dear Janet,
On behalf of [the school where I got the student loan], I wish to thank you for repaying your student loan and not being a deadbeat. I commend you for fulfilling this very important financial obligation instead of treating it like an obligation to one of those magazine CD clubs. The student loan programs are revolving funds, so your repayment will be used to make new loans to current students who, owing to crummy job prospects, may turn out to be the deadbeat we halfway expected you to be.
This is to confirm that your student loan referenced above has been paid in full. Please remember that if you have additional student loans from [the school where I got the student loan], giving you the chance to stay stuck in the bottomless pit of student debt, another acknowledgment letter will be sent when the loans are paid in full and we know for reals that you're not a deadbeat.
We thank you and wish you a successful professional and personal life of acquiring non-student debt.
* * * * *
What do you want to bet that they passed the news that I've paid off this loan onto the alumni giving office?
It's a little surprising they didn't hit you up for a donation in the confirmation letter.
Heck, mine didn't wait 'till I'd paid mine off. Though undergrad is nuthin' compared to professional school.
Ha ha. I paid mine off first. (The second loan letter is up on my fridge. I assume the previous loan is still up on the fridge at my old apartment.)