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By Thu Pham, Peter Anderson, Angela Baeza Pena and Levon Blue
“Debt relief is welcome, but it won’t keep students in programs where they feel unsafe, unsupported, or invisible.”
The Albanese Government’s recent move to wipe out 20% of student HECS-HELP debt is a welcome financial reprieve, a symbolic and practical gesture recognising the burden students carry. But for many Indigenous higher degree by research (HDR) students, debt is only part of the challenge. Two separate research projects — one that surveyed students, and another that surveyed supervisors — point to the same pressing concern: mental health and wellbeing.
The policy context
On…