HECS Payback

Hi,

Thought it may affect people who are still studying or have outstanding HECS debt. It seems that the threshold is now going to be $42,000 when people have to repay back their HECS debt and for any continuing students it is expected that fees will increase for their studies. Personally, I don't have an issue with this and feel that people whine too much about it. It's a debt and not something which you can forgo paying.

I know some people will complain about how with HECS and saving up for their first home, is going to make it impossible but be more selective with the studies you wish to do. I know my first degree paid itself off many times over with the employment I was able to secure with the studies.

Eight per cent fee increase, earlier repayments, funding cuts: full uni package revealed

 

I won't be able to afford the sides with my 'smashed avo' now. The planned tax-free home deposit savings scheme mooted to be revived recently might go a long way towards offsetting this increase in costs/reduction in the threshold.

 

Oh, no!!!

That means the price of avocados will crash!!!!

Listing the avocado farm for sale as we speak .

 

I just find it surprising that people think think they are entitled to a 'free' education. It's not what you signed up for and such a stupid way of thinking.

 

HECs was introduced in the 1980's - almost all of the current cohort of students weren't born when it was introduced. I couldn't take advantage of defined benefits super but do you hear me whinging?

 

People bang on about how wonderful free education was before HECS but the reality is that there were very few university places offered under the free system compared to now.

I only got into uni because my place was created under HECS. I have used HECS and PELS to get a degree and masters that I could not have afforded without these programs. It seemed to me that they were paid off very quickly after I started to get better jobs. It's an investment!

I read some rot on facebook today that under the government's new proposal, only the rich would be able to afford degrees. Nonsense. With my 2 degress the government picked up almost all fees. I had very few out of pocket expenses. It's certainly not the domain of the rich.

 

@Perthguy - I think that I paid about $1200/subject for my masters, less for the grad sip and f'all in HECS upfront for my undergrad.

Still reasonably good value even after you consider the drop in standards.

 

I was lucky.

I graduated in 1976 - no Uni fees (thanks Gough) and was paid a tertiary allowance of $29 per week. In those days, as a comparision, a bottle of Bundy Rum (a stable diet for Uni students in Qld) cost $5.

I have more than repaid that "debt" to society via income tax, CGT, GST, stamp duty, land tax, rates, ...

In those days, the Government saw the value in making an investment in me and IMHO they got a great return on their investment.

These days, you have to see the value in making an investment in yourself and the return on your investment is totally in your hands.

 

Drop in standards is a huge downside of fee for service. Basically, you can make university education free, limit the number of places and accept that most will not have a degree. This means that education is predominately for the elite, whose parents can send them to the best schools to get the best marks to get a university places. Of course there are limited places for low income earners to make the system seem fair.

The alternative is fee for service where there are many places and even average students (like me) can get a university place. Standards drop and a degree becomes less valued but more people have one.

Which is better? I don't know. I am not sure it's a question that can be answered.

 

I think it's ridiculous - 42k is pretty much minimum wage. On the very lowest salary to start repayments, the person will be paying $8/week. What are the admin costs to collect this $8? It's all part of the populist approach of pretending to do 'something' while actually doing nothing - and accruing costs for the privilege.

 

It's collected through the tax system so extra admin would be negligible.

Think yourself lucky, my daughter graduated in the late 1990s and started repaying HECS on her starting salary of $22K.
Marg

 

And if they're on the dole, they don't pay a cent. I don't get a holiday on paying back my mortgage if my income drops for any reason so why should someone with other debt be given a break?

 

Yeah, I have a relative (through marriage) who is nearly 40, has a HECS debt (teaching degree) and hasn't paid a cent.

I doubt he ever will. I assume he is part of the $13B the Government expects to NEVER recover. That is our money. Send in the debt collectors. Really ****** me off.

 

I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if the cost to collect it exceeded what they collected at that salary level. It's all about "cracking down" on everything to win votes these days.

Even when I was making just under 70k in my previous job, the HECS I paid barely made a dent as the yearly "adjustments" were almost the same as what I was paying.

I calculated that I will fully pay mine back in my early 40s. Meanwhile that 80k (or whatever the total amount will be by then) could have been recirculated back into the economy in many other ways rather than going towards a largely on paper debt.

Maybe we can make all gov't services and benefits accrue in a debt system and then deduct this from people's estates when they die. I don't see why university is particularly special to be singled out

 

Maybe we just make everyone pay upfront 100%, just like developers having to pay to install services into new subdivisions rather than having the user paying for them over 40 years through their rates or services charges.

 

I dont mind paying my FEE-HELP debt from my salary. Even though the course was relatively useless - Bachelor of How To Photoshop - if you're earning a higher income then its worth paying off. If you're lucky enough to find a full time gig at around $42k, then you should start paying back the loan even if its a few bucks a month.

 

My only real issue with the whole paying back is the Government got rid of the generous discount % in paying back your HECS. Tbh, if they offered the generous 20% discount, this may be rather enticing to pay back more of it sooner.

 

What's the point though? At that salary, it will never be paid off as indexation will exceed the yearly repayments.

 

Shhhh! Don't tell anyone, now that it's in, they can increase the rate for the deduction and get payback quicker.