Policy Submissions

Submission to Senate Inquiry into the Provisions of the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Bill 2018

27 Feb 18

Attachment – CAPA’s submission to Senate Inquiry into the Provisions of the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Bill 2018

Overview – In CAPA’s submission to the Senate Inquiry investigating proposed changes to student loans, we identify some of the changes as likely to have an extremely negative impact on university students, and on postgraduate students in particular. While we are not opposed to an increase in the rate of HELP debt recovery from high-earning graduates, we recommend that plans to lower the repayment threshold, index it to CPI, and introduce a lifetime cap on all HELP loans be abandoned. If the Government is truly concerned with reducing HELP debt, we propose that the upfront payment discount be reintroduced. This discount incentivised early repayment from those with the means to do so.