HECS/HELP debts incurred before 2014 to suffer interest after 2020 - fair?

[burge13]

Agree. This situation wasn’t the intention of HECS. if the intention is to ensure repayment, and not making money off students it should be addressed

Just found this article, also suggesting a maximum as a option rather than WPI

HELP debt indexation at the lower of CPI or a fixed maximum rate – giving HELP borrowers more certainty than the Universities Accord final report lower of CPI or WPI recommendation

Over the last two years high CPI-driven HELP debt indexation – 3.9% in 2022, 7.1% in 2023, probably in the vicinity of 5% this year – has been a major issue. It has brought to public at…

andrewnorton.net.au

Something going up with CPI isn't making money

Why shouldn't the loan repayments go up with this? Why should the government (us taxpayers actually) foot more of that bill than we already have?

If higher education isn't leading to students getting better jobs to pay this, that's an issue. A bigger issue than repayments going up with CPI which is logical

 

[barreness]

Something going up with CPI isn't making money

Why shouldn't the loan repayments go up with this? Why should the government (us taxpayers actually) foot more of that bill than we already have?

If higher education isn't leading to students getting better jobs to pay this, that's an issue. A bigger issue than repayments going up with CPI which is logical

HECS=contribution scheme, HELP=loan program. The idea that it's a loan has been slowly creeping in, and now we have people in entry level jobs paying a decent whack every fortnight.

It all stems from the fact they didn't want to bump income tax rates at the higher end for political reasons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#History
In 1970s, Whitlam Labor government abolished university fees to make tertiary education in Australia more accessible to working and middle class Australians. In 1989, the Hawke Labor government began gradually re-introducing fees for university study and setup the Higher Education Contributions Scheme (HECS).[8][9][10]

Present status​

In 1996, the new Howard Coalition government, introduced tiers in the HECS fee structure (now called HECS-HELP). Fees are charged on the basis of the perceived value of courses. Courses considered to have most likelihood of generating higher income for students in the future (e.g. Law and Medicine) are the most expensive and those least likely to generate higher income (e.g. Nursing and Arts) are the least expensive."

And it was further messed with under Morrison to make less lucrative degrees more expensive

 

[checkraiseulite]

it’s a dumb scheme. too many people are incentivized to go to uni and incur debt for stupid degrees when there is limited prospect of them paying back their hecs debt.

this is exacerbated in a high inflation environment and when one of our biggest “industries” is higher education.

 

[tangolikelama]

Paid out my remaining 28k the other week. Banks changed their view on it a few years back. Paying off that 28k allows me to borrow 60-120k more which is stupid.

 

[barreness]

it’s a dumb scheme. too many people are incentivized to go to uni and incur debt for stupid degrees when there is limited prospect of them paying back their hecs debt.

this is exacerbated in a high inflation environment and when one of our biggest “industries” is higher education.

Commodification of education(on both ends) didn't turn out well, colour me shocked

 

[checkraiseulite]

Commodification of education(on both ends) didn't turn out well, colour me shocked

working well for some

https://archive.md/x3Wj3People