Students face 20 years of debt under university fee changes

Some students will take 20 years to pay off their university debts under the Australian government’s overhaul of fees, with the financial burden of humanities and communications degrees to drag on for twice as long as it does under the current system, writes Fergus Hunter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

The new modelling by the independent Parliamentary Library, commissioned by the Greens, has found that women will feel a disproportionate impact, taking longer to pay off the larger HELP debts than their male counterparts in a range of disciplines.

According to the projections, men who study a degree made up entirely of social science subjects will take 12.3 years to pay off their HELP debt, up from 6.2 years – a 98% increase. Women studying social sciences will take 14.2 years to repay their debt, up from 7.1 years – a 100% increase.
Full report on The Sydney Morning Herald site