Grad pays off $114k student loan in cash

A Canadian man paid off his $114,460 student loan debt in one lump sum -- of cash. That's $111,350 U.S. 

How many university grads, unemployed and overburdened by student loans, would be jealous of that? 

In fact, maybe envy motivated some of the snarky online comments after a photo of the $114,460 bank receipt he posted on his Facebook Timeline surfaced elsewhere on the Internet. Commenters, particularly anonymous ones, can be so rude.

Alex Kenjeev of Toronto had accumulated about $190,000 in student loan debt while earning an undergraduate diploma, an MBA and also a law degree, which he received in 2009, according to an ABC News story and other reports. He got the money to pay off the balance when he sold a start-up software company. Kenjeev is now president of O'Leary Ventures, a venture capital firm. (Post continues below.)

Kenjeev said he thought paying off the loan in cash would be both memorable and fun. That's not exactly how it turned out. First, his bank didn't want to give him so much cash. Several days later, when he got the money, he carried it in a canvas shopping bag two blocks to the other bank, and got more resistance there. 

He said being debt-free made him happy. (Actually, he has a $30,000 government student loan he's not paying off right away because the interest is tax-deductible, he posted on Reddit.)

Many people congratulated him -- as they should. But some were critical. One person said on Facebook, "Where on Earth did you get that kind of cash?? Am I the only one who thinks that's a bizarre thing to boast about?"

After the photo appeared on Reddit, some readers there speculated that a person with that much cash must:

• Be dealing drugs.
• Have rich parents.
• Have won the lottery.

Others said he should have invested the money. A few said it's crazy to borrow that much to get an education. (Even in the U.S. it is unusual. Only 3.1% of student loan borrowers here owe more than $100,000.)

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Said one commenter at Business Insider:

He did this so that he could get the picture and post it on Facebook, thereby using this as a means to indirectly brag to his friends about how much money he is making. Had he made a wire transfer, he couldn't have bragged about it without sounding like he was trying to brag.

Cut the guy a break. Kenjeev told Business Insider: "I was feeling very good about finally being debt-free. Some people have taken it pretty offensively. I actually think they have a point. It hadn't really occurred to me."

More on MSN Money:

• How I'm repaying $120k in student loans
• How much should I be saving for college?
• Pay down student loans -- by shopping?
• Will I be able to pay back my student loans?
• Student loans -- for kindergarten?
• Bank finally forgives dead student's loan