Millions of Aussies' HECS debt wiped

Engineering student Billy Baliko hasn’t even finished his course, but the 24 year olds already saddled with a $51,000 hex debt. And then on top of that I’m also accruing interest on this loan. Until now, uni debts like Billies have been pegged to inflation, which meant they grew by a super sized 7.1% last year. Young Australians, already feeling squeezed out of the housing market, hit particularly hard. This is a huge conversation I’ve had, definitely with a lot of my peers at university. The government’s heard it and we’re acting Uni debts will now be indexed by wage growth or inflation, whichever is lower, backdated to last year when wage growth was just over 3%. In other words, we’re going to wipe out what happened last year and make sure that it never happens again. Someone with an average hex debt of 26 and a half, $1000 will have to repay $1200. Less of $50,000. Debt will be effectively slashed by more than $2200. Double for those with $100,000 student loan This is going to cut Hec’s debt for for about 3 million Aussies by about $3 billion. Independent MP Monique Ryan collected more than 270,000 signatures from those demanding the change. The government has listened and I thank them for that. The architect of Hex, economist Bruce Chapman, says the changes will allow student debts to be paid a little faster for somebody with a expected time period of repayment, say 10 years. This will take about 6 months off. It won’t provide any immediate assistance for students, but on the balance it’s still a pretty good move. Given this won’t reduce HEX repayments, only the size of debts. The government can’t claim it as a cost of living measure, but millions will welcome it anyway.