#Auspol #HigherEd #HECS #Scam #ATO #AustralianTaxOffice

The ATO is charging interest on HECS that has already been repaid! 😨
When interest rates were 1% it was barely noticeable. But now, it's hundreds of dollars that students are being scammed.

HECS indexation increasing unaffordable student debt

“In 2020 and previous years, indexation was sitting around 1.8%- 2% and then a jump to 3.9% in 2022 and in 2023 a whopping 7.1%…

“Your HECS debt is indexed on 1 June every year before the end of the financial year. Really, it should be indexed after the start of the new financial year on 1 July.

“The problem with the indexation system is that the ATO hasn’t calculated the repayments your employer has made throughout the year, hence they are applying indexation to your debt amount from the start of the financial year.

“This means that a larger dollar amount will be indexed causing you to end up with more debt added on.

“The ATO should be including the payments you have already made to reduce the debt for that financial year.”

#IndependentAustralia #IA #IndependentMedia #RowanBosman 👇🏽

https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/hecs-indexation-increasing-unaffordable-student-debt,17784

The kids today are asking whether University is worth it. I question this myself even though I benefitted from it but I did so when Keating, the man who didn’t pay, first introduced #HECS. #auspol #education

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/30/student-debt-reforms-australia-labor-coalition-liberal-changes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@PatHudsonCartoons #Cartoon @phudsonink The benefits of later retirement A cartoon by me #auspol #HECS #costofliving #retirement #alttext

What is this mindbending logic?

We can’t freeze indexation of student loans, because it might “cost taxpayers who don’t have a degree”… but since getting a degree “makes you money” and we have some level of progressive taxation, where people who get more income pay more tax, so presumably the taxpayers who might bear this burden would be more likely to have a degree… ???

#StudentDebt #HECS #inflation

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/01/jason-clare-says-going-to-university-makes-you-money-as-he-defends-7-indexation-rise-in-student-loans

Happy indexation day!

#hecs #DebtSentence #IndexationDay

The benefits of later retirement

A cartoon by me

#auspol #HECS #costofliving #retirement

#HECS, 'the best debt you'll ever have' until it gets indexed at a higher rate than interest. I'm absolutely thrilled that mine has gone up by $1500. That's ~20% of what I paid off of it in 2022 🙃

#AusPol #HECSHELP #StudentLoans #Australia

#HECS. Fecks. 7.1% indexation is bollocks. HECS is a Labor creation. They like to talk about Whitlam's great reforms but not so much about how much they helped to wind them back. As an old Adelaide student band sang,

School is bad
Like marijuana
To make ya stop
they'll tax ya harder

ATO says pay by tomorrow (25 May) to avoid indexation of 7.1% on your HECS-Help debt https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-24/hecs-debt-repayments-indexation-calculator-june-1/102376464 #auspol #hecs #inflation

@luciedigitalni @misswired
Nasty. Yes, I'd say you're right - it's worth paying your HECS off now (again!) and getting back the withheld amounts when your return is processed.
(Technically, pendant, I think it happens because it's "PAYG withholding", which is different to "PAYG instalments". Both are collected at the same time but this one is "withheld" and "not applied to your loan account until: you have lodged your tax return, and a compulsory repayment has been calculated based on your repayment income." So you haven't yet paid off the debt, you've just handed over sufficient funds to do so! https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/study-and-training-support-loans/compulsory-repayments/)

Thanks for the heads up.

#AusPol #Tax #HECS

Becoming a police state to protect oil and gas image is a waste of time. I’m not sure what the #labor governments are hoping to achieve by pissing off young people more then they have with #housing #wages #hecs etc.
Is the next step raising the age to vote? #auspol

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/environment/2023/04/29/the-cost-the-protest-crackdown

My ~$75,000 #HECS HELP Debt is being indexed at 7.1% in June, that's a whopping $5,000+ indexation.

But, I'm not concerned.

The right wing claim that student debts won't increase in real terms due to the rise in inflation.

However, the inflation rate (CPI) does not measure people's ability to pay. Rather than ending indexation of #HECS & #HELP they should be indexed to the median wage.

At least that has some relation to how well graduates are performing.

#Auspol

Australia's HECS-HELP debt has topped $74b. How long does it take the average student to pay theirs off?
#ATO has released the country's 100 largest #HECS debts through a Freedom of Information request – and the highest debt is a whopping $737,000.
The second-biggest has ballooned to nearly half a million dollars, with the third coming in at $387,000. The lowest in the top 100 was more than $219,000.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-15/hecs-help-debt-financial-advice-indexation-student-loan/102218826

Well, this was wholly foreseen by pretty much anyone familiar with the funding rules, including myself:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/12/australian-university-reforms-to-incentivise-stem-degrees-over-arts-have-dismally-failed-peak-bodies-say

https://medium.com/@antonyeagle/changes-to-australian-higher-education-funding-an-attack-on-expertise-89b1659e845

But what we can't have is a return to the old system. If I were in charge, I'd impose a graduate tax (an extra 1-2% in each tax bracket, preserving progressively and reflecting the individual benefit of university education). If I can't have that, I'd prefer a system that let universities cross-subsidise teaching costs from teaching income, but was flat for all students, allowing subject interest to determine choice, without financial matters distorting choice (which invariably reduces student engagement, performance, and propensity to complete). Then let the government incentivise the subjects they want by direct financial support in the form of bursaries or scholarships. If you want more nurses, don't try to tweak a variable that is mostly hidden from the view of current students, i.e., the costs paid by their future selves – tweak a variable they directly experience, such as funds for living expenses while studying, etc.

#HigherEducation #AustralianPolitics #HECS

Key points:

* The National Union of Students says the federal government is profiting from student loans

* Annual indexation is causing loan amounts to rise sharply due to high inflation

* Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the system is fair

"Paying mine off was a case of two steps forward, one step back. It took me 27 years to get rid of the debt."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-03/student-debt-rising-hecs-help-indexing/102125582

#HECS #HECSdebt #auspol

"Even so, in recent years the Coalition tightened up the repayment arrangements in ways that make the scheme less fair, particularly for those working part-time. But, as Warburton says, Labor can fix this."
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/young-people-can-relax-about-their-student-loans-there-s-a-fate-worse-than-debt-20230307-p5cpxb.html

#TheAge #hecs #help #studentdebt #Australia #Taxation

FYI for HECS/HELP debt
If you are in a position to pay off any HECS or HELP debt, might want to think about it before June 30 and indexation (projected to be 7.19%*) is applied.

I made a graph
#tax #HECS #HELP #Education #uni #student #debt
* https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/28/inflation-driven-higher-education-debt-increases-to-hit-millions-of-australians

Not really feeling my quirky custom ECS thing anymore, going to try swapping in #hecs in its place and going for a more regular structure.

Also found out my A* search was buggy and pathfinding crate pretty much does the same thing but better, so switching over to that.

Jokes aside I understand the problematic nature of the US News rankings and good reasons for not taking part.
Also #ANU is great, such a fan, but did my law degree at #CDU in AliceSprings which I just discovered from the “higher edication” link has the non-specific ranking range of 351-400, this sample of 1 confirms rankings are not important.
I realise that’s a fact that is more essential for law firms employing US graduates to understand.
Finally, looking at US fees, a shout out to #HECS