Petition to stop students going into debt (1 Viewer)

[ChelseaMiller]

Hi everyone,

Turnbull is wanting people to pay back HECS debt if they live in high income households, even if they don't earn enough themselves.
Please read and sign below. Thanks.


https://www.change.org/p/australian...utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

 

[Rafy]

This is somewhat misleading. It's mentioned in brief passing in a reform paper in a discussion on what the various policy options are.

It cannot be said from this that Turnbull wants to do it or the government has any sort of policy to do so.

 

[Amleops]

Like Rafy mentioned, it is an option, not a definite course of action.

But that being said, it isn't the worst idea. Assuming the cutoff for what is considered to be "high income" is reasonable, and that there remains ways through which these students can opt out of the scheme if they can prove that their parents refuse to support them financially, it doesn't seem unreasonable for parents to loan their children money to pay for their fees upfront. In fact, it might actually save the children money in the long run, especially if the parents don't impose any personal interest rates.

Plus it could potentially be a decent source of revenue for the government.

 

[seremify007]

Whilst I can see the outrage, if you take a step back and think about it logically- the whole point of HECS was to improve accessibility particularly to those who could not afford it otherwise. Let's not also forget that each university position has a degree of government funding (directly/indirectly past/present/future). To change the rules such that it reduced the 'entitlement' to those who need it so that wealthier individuals/families do not hold onto the interest free loan, is not out of line with the objective. That being said if it were to lead to adverse behaviour (e.g. people moving out of rich households when they otherwise wouldn't) then this would also need to be considered.