The story behind this epic surprise…

Recently, the SoFi team noticed that SoFi members who had paid off their student loans started celebrating their debt payoff. Popping champagne, baking cakes—the posts were coming in almost daily.

We were so inspired by their triumph over debt we started sending them surprises—sweatshirts, sunglasses, champagne glasses, and so on.

Student loan debt is never easy to manage, but the burden can become overwhelming once you add a mortgage, a car, and other financial obligations. Stare at your balance long enough and you may start wondering what it would take to win the lottery—as if it were even possible to tip the odds in your favor.

Fortunately, there’s another option.

In our next 3 People story, we meet three professionals from diverse backgrounds, cities and careers, who open up about their finances, careers and overcoming student loan debt. Each person’s financial picture, student loans, and repayment strategy differs; however, each refinanced their student loans through SoFi to take control of student debt and pay off their loans faster.

Americans currently owe over $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve. And when the amount is broken down, its significance becomes even clearer.

CBS News reported in May that the average 2016 undergrad student loan debt is $37,172. But that’s nowhere near what grads of top tier b-schools and law schools face: six-figure student loan debt. Grads of Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management leave campus saddled with average student loan debt of $115,048. Head west to the University of San Francisco Law School, and the average climbs to $162,434.

Got student loans? We’ve got you covered with our Student Loan Smarts blog series. Our expert tips and hacks will help you save money, pay off loans sooner, and stress less about student loan debt. Read the other posts in the series to get all the info you need to make intelligent decisions about your student loans.

Student loan debt can cause you to delay important life decisions, such as those around marriage and family, or postpone big savings goals like buying a house. But by refinancing, you won’t have to put your dreams on hold. All you need is a little guidance and a plan.

If the United States economy was a movie, student loans would be the super villain– or at the very least, a founding member of the Suicide Squad.

Over the past decade or so, outstanding student loan debt has grown faster than a toxic algae bloom, surpassing a whopping $1.3 trillion. Saddled with increasingly scary levels of debt, young professionals have decreased spending and put off major purchases, such as buying a home, fueling an ongoing drag on the economy. Inability to pay student loan debt can even lead to mental health issues and physical illness, which can have a major impact on employee productivity and business performance.