HECS indexation to be overhauled in budget with $3 billion in student debt 'wiped out'
HECS indexation to be overhauled in budget with $3 billion in student debt 'wiped out'
Millions of Australians with student loans will have hundreds of dollars wiped from their HECS debts as the federal government rolls out its plans for cost-of-living relief in the upcoming budget.
Student debts will be lowered for more than three million Australians under reforms designed to stop HECS loans growing faster than wages.
Loan indexation will now match whichever is lower out of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index — which the government says will prevent another shock increase like last year's 7.1 per cent increase.
The changes will be introduced in the 2024 budget and, pending getting through parliament, will take effect from June.
A key line that's not in the summary (but probably should've been -- not that that's OP's fault):
The policy will be backdated to June 1 2023, which means last year's 7.1 per cent indexation will be lowered to the WPI of 3.2 per cent.