20k Australians rally behind Monique Ryan’s petition to change HECS debt indexation

Struggling uni students are demanding the federal government implement changes to make it easier for them to pay off their soaring HECS debts.

Thousands of Australians have rallied behind a petition calling for Federal Education Minister Jason Clare to make Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) debts easier to pay off.

Independent member for Kooyong Dr Monique Ryan launched the petition yesterday in a bid to change the way HECS debts are indexed. It has since amassed more than 20,000 signatures.

“Last year, over a million Australians saw their HECS debt grow faster than it was being repaid because of an unfair indexation system,” Dr Ryan wrote on the petition.

“The government got more money last year from our HECS debts than it did from its main fossil fuel tax.”

HECS is a type of loan a tertiary student takes out to help pay their university fees.

Once the student starts to earn more money, they can make loan repayments through their tax when they reach a certain income threshold.

More than 20,000 students have signed a petition to change the way HECS debts are indexed.

Similar to the way interest rates change, HECS debts are “indexed” to keep up with changes to the cost of living after they are 11 months old.

Last year, the indexation rate skyrocketed to 7.1 per cent amid the cost of living crisis, which Dr Ryan said has put immense pressure on those with HECS loans.

“So many people come up to me at my pop-up offices and ask me to do something about HECS. It’s deeply unfair,” she told the Herald Sun.

“Young people are facing a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis — they shouldn’t be burdened with a HECS debt crisis too.”

The idea to start a petition emerged after Dr Ryan posted an Instagram reel about HECS debt indexation being “unfair”.

“In response, a student named Phoebe from (University of Technology Sydney) got in touch with this amazing email. She said she had seen the video and decided to get her physiotherapy course to sign a letter to the Education Minister,” Dr Ryan said.

“She got almost every single person in the cohort to sign it … after seeing Phoebe’s petition, I asked her if I could do a video about it to see if there were any others interested in signing a petition to the Education Minister about HECS.

“The response has been massive — we’ve now got 20,000 signatures in half a day. But it’s not that surprising to me. The way HECS debts are indexed has to change.”

Dr Monique Ryan and thousands of Australians are calling on Education Minister Jason Clare to review how HECS debts are indexed. Picture: Liam Kidston

Dr Ryan said she knows of Australians who have decided not to go to university because they can’t afford to pay off fees or don’t want to be burdened by a debt.

“I’m asking the Education Minister to change the way HECS is indexed. It should be indexed to either inflation or the Wage Price Index — whichever is lower,” Dr Ryan said.

“That will stop the unfair situation we’re seeing. To everyone who’s frustrated with HECS debts I say: sign and share the petition! Let’s show the government how much we want fairer HECS debts and let’s get it changed.”

Following the release of the Australian Universities Accord, it’s understood Mr Clare is reviewing HECS debts.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the Universities Accord made a number of recommendations about how to make the HECS-HELP system simpler and more fair.

“The Government is considering all of these recommendations and will respond in the next few months,” he said.

“I want to make the point that going to university makes you money.

“The average annual income of an individual with a university degree is approximately $30,000 more than the average annual income of someone whose last year of education was Year 12.”