Gracias a un pequeño préstamo estudiantil, mi hermana terminó la carrera sin tanta deuda.

In this structure, gracias a works like “thanks to” in English and introduces the cause or means that made something possible.

• Gracias a un pequeño préstamo estudiantil…
  = Thanks to a small student loan… (that loan made the result possible)

By contrast:

• Gracias por el préstamo = Thank you for the loan (you’re thanking someone for something directly)
• Gracias a + noun / verb = “thanks to” (it introduces a cause: Thanks to X, Y happened)

So here we’re not thanking a person; we’re explaining why she finished her degree with less debt, so gracias a is the natural choice.

Most of the time, yes, gracias a suggests a positive or at least neutral cause:

• Gracias a mi jefe, encontré este trabajo.
  Thanks to my boss, I found this job.

However, in real usage people also say it with negative things, often with irony:

• Gracias a tu despiste, llegamos tarde.
  Thanks to your absent-mindedness, we’re late.

So grammatically it just links a cause and a result. Context and tone tell you whether it’s sincere or ironic. In your sentence it’s clearly positive: the loan helped reduce her debt.

Both are possible, but the position changes the nuance slightly.

In Spanish, many adjectives can go:

• Before the noun → often more subjective, evaluative, or less strictly descriptive.
• After the noun → more descriptive, classifying, or contrastive.

So:

• un pequeño préstamo estudiantil
  = a small student loan, giving a general, almost “natural” description. “Pequeño” feels more like an overall, subjective assessment.

• un préstamo estudiantil pequeño
  = a student loan that is small (more contrastive, like you’re distinguishing it from a bigger one or other types of loans).

In practice, un pequeño préstamo estudiantil sounds more idiomatic and fluid here.

Préstamo estudiantil literally means “student loan”.

In Spain you’ll also hear:

• préstamo para estudios (loan for studies)
• préstamo para estudiantes (loan for students)
• crédito para estudios

Préstamo estudiantil is clear and correct, though in everyday speech Spaniards might more commonly say préstamo para estudios. All of these mean basically the same thing in context.

You could, but it’s less standard for the meaning “student loan.”

• préstamo estudiantil / préstamo para estudios
  → strongly associated with the product a bank offers to finance studies.

• préstamo de estudiante
  → literally “a student’s loan” (a loan belonging to a student), not necessarily the type of loan designed for studies.

So for the financial product, préstamo estudiantil or préstamo para estudios is better.

In Spanish, when the possessor is obvious (like a close family member and a unique possession in that context), speakers often prefer the definite article over the possessive:

• mi hermana terminó la carrera
  literally: “my sister finished the degree”
• mi hermana terminó su carrera
  literally: “my sister finished her degree”

Both are correct, but la carrera sounds more natural in many contexts, especially with body parts, clothes, and typical life-stage things:

• Me duele la cabeza. (not normally mi cabeza)
• Se puso el abrigo. (not necessarily su abrigo)
• Mi hijo ha empezado la universidad.

Here, la carrera is understood as her degree; the possessive isn’t needed.

In Spain, la carrera in this context means a university degree course (the programme of study), roughly “degree” in British English or “college major/program” in American English.

So terminar la carrera = to finish your degree / to complete college.

Other meanings of carrera:

• una carrera = a race (running, motorsport, etc.)
• carrera profesional = career (professional path)

But on its own, in a university context in Spain, carrera = degree programme.

Terminó is the preterite (simple past): she finished.

In Spain both are possible, with a nuance:

• mi hermana terminó la carrera
  → simple narrative past; presenting it as a finished event in the past.

• mi hermana ha terminado la carrera
  → present perfect; often used when the result feels more connected to “now” (e.g. recent news: “she’s just finished her degree”).

In many everyday contexts in Spain:

• For recent news / present relevance, ha terminado sounds more natural.
• For narrating past events, terminó is fine.

Your sentence is more like a general statement about the past, so terminó works well.

Literally:

• sin = without
• tanta = so much / that much
• deuda = debt

So sin tanta deuda ≈ “without so much debt” or “without that much debt.”

Nuance:

• mucha deuda = a lot of debt
• tanta deuda = so much debt / that much debt, often with an implied comparison.

By saying sin tanta deuda, the speaker is implicitly comparing:

• without as much debt as she might have had,
  or without as much debt as is typical.

It’s not wrong to say sin mucha deuda (“without much debt”), but sin tanta deuda highlights a contrast with some expected higher level of debt.

Tanta agrees with deuda, not with mi hermana.

• deuda is a feminine noun → la deuda
• Adjectives and quantifiers must match the noun they modify:
  • mucha deuda
  • tanta deuda
  • poca deuda

The subject’s gender (mi hermana) is irrelevant for the agreement of tanta here.

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

• sin tanta deuda
  → “without so much debt” as a general mass or total amount (total indebtedness).

• sin tantas deudas
  → “without so many debts,” focusing on individual debts (many separate amounts or creditors).

Talking about finances in a general way, Spanish often uses deuda in the singular to mean “total debt,” just like English can say “in debt” without pluralizing it. That’s why sin tanta deuda sounds very natural.

Because pequeño is a “normal” descriptive adjective, while estudiantil is more like a classifying adjective (it defines the type/category of loan).

In Spanish, the usual order is:

1. Determiner: un
2. Subjective / general adjective: pequeño
3. Noun: préstamo
4. Classifying / specific adjective: estudiantil

So:

• un pequeño préstamo estudiantil

If you moved pequeño after the noun:

• un préstamo estudiantil pequeño

  …it would sound more contrastive, like you’re distinguishing it from a larger student loan. The given order is more natural and neutral.

No, that would be incorrect in standard Spanish.

You need an article or determiner with a singular countable noun like préstamo:

Correct options:

• Gracias a un pequeño préstamo estudiantil… (a small student loan)
• Gracias al pequeño préstamo estudiantil… (the small student loan – a specific one already known in context)

But without un or el, it sounds ungrammatical.

Yes, you’ll hear several very common colloquial expressions in Spain:

• acabó la carrera
• terminó la uni (very colloquial: “finished uni”)
• se sacó la carrera (literally “got herself the degree”)
• ha acabado la carrera (present perfect, often used for recent news)

Your version, terminó la carrera, is standard and correct; it just sounds slightly more neutral/formal than se sacó la carrera or acabó la carrera in everyday speech.