'Now make it free': UOW students deem HECS debt changes a good start

Education Minister Jason Clare announced on Sunday, May 5, changes to the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) indexation rate which would eliminate about $3 billion worth of student debt.

Ela Akyol, from the Wollongong Undergraduate Student Union, says any sort of changes which provide relief from HECS debts are welcomed but wants to see more done.

"We want to see university education to be free, we want to see tertiary education to be free and we ultimately want to see student debt be wiped," Ms Akyol said.

"But we do welcome these changes."

The new system matches indexation to the lower of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Wage Price Index (WPI).

2023's record increase in student debt of 7.1 per cent was based on the CPI, where the WPI was only 3.2 per cent.

"The way I see it is our politicians and MPs in office, they went to university for free, a lot of them got their arts degrees for free, so we're in a situation where students are not getting their education for free."

Hamish Naughton-Noel is a graduate from UOW who previously told the Mercury he was "not one to hope, especially when it comes to the government," and says the announcement is a positive change.

"I did the math when I first found out, it's going to save me about $1200," Mr Naughton-Noel said.

Mr Naughton-Noel does worry that the increasing price of university education will turn people away from studying.

"It feels like it's a system that used to work a lot better back in the day when degrees were less expensive and there was more well-funded social programs to kind of support people," he said.

"With the cost of the degrees being what they are, I think it does make formal education to some less appealing, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of other options for people."

For current UOW student Tyneesha Williams, who said she didn't really understand the HECS system when she signed up, the change was positively received.

"I think it's great that the voices of concerned students were heard and the changes were made fairly promptly in response," Ms Williams said.

"I hope that people entering into higher education in the next couple of years won't experience the same concern and confusion around how the process works or might affect their financials long term."