Australian voters tend to reject US-style education, favouring more egalitarian systems where income does not determine access.
In the US, the average student debt (public and private debt) is USD $37,693, and it takes individuals an average of 20 years to repay it. However, students often have a gap not fulfilled by loans.
For Australian domestic students, completing a bachelor's degree generally costs between $20,000 and $45,000, excluding some higher-value courses. HECS-HELP loans are available for eligible students to cover the cost of tuition up to $121,844 for most degrees and $174,998 for higher-value degrees like medicine.
The average higher education student debt in Australia is around $27,000 and, on average, takes just over 8 years to repay. Close to 3 million Australians have student loan debt totalling over $81 bn, and over 7 million have loans above $100,000.
Currently, student loans start to be paid back when an individual’s income reaches $54,435, with a repayment rate that scales according to income ranging from 0% to 10% when income reaches $159,664.
The Government has announced a series of changes to HECS-HELP, including:
Indexation rate calculation changes to the lower of consumer price index (CPI) or wage price index (WPI) – currently CPI. It intended to be backdated to student loans on 1 June 2023, effectively removing the 7.1% spike in 2023.
Increased minimum repayment threshold to $67,000 in 2025-26. The repayments will also be calculated based on income above the new $67,000 threshold rather than total annual income.
20% loan reduction for all study and training support loans before 1 June 2025 (around $16bn).
These changes are subject to the passage of legislation and are not yet law.
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