Australians in their 20s have HECS/HELP debts more than $10,000 greater in real terms than did people 20 years ago
HECS/HELP no longer operates as it was supposed to. What was intended to be a modest contribution to the cost of higher education repaid once you earned nearly 90% of average earnings is now saddling Australians with large debts that they are repaying when they earn barely more than the minimum wage.
The line is often made that because HECS/HELP loans are indexed to inflation there is no need to worry about the debt because it is “in effect” interest-free.
The reality is that because inflation has risen faster than wages over the past two years many people…
