The federal government’s election pledge to reduce student debt for about three million Australians will be a legislative priority for the first week of the new parliament.
University graduates will have their debt reduced by 20%, but e61 Institute economists Jack Buckley and Matthew Maltman have concluded that people in the top third of income-earners will benefit the most from the proposed student debt relief, as will those who graduated some years ago.
Specifically, e61 cites the following concerns with the debt forgiveness policy.
First, the size of debt relief depends almost as much on graduation year as degree choice. This means that those who leave university in the year the policy is implemented will receive a debt cut that is…