Student debts will go up 4.8% this June adding an estimated $3.3billion to the debt burden of Australians unless the Labor Government urgently intervenes. The Greens are warning that the debt crisis is spiralling out of control.
The latest figure also confirms that under the Albanese government, student debt is set to increase by a total of 16.62%, adding about $4,000 to the average debt over this period.
Someone with an average student debt of $26,494 will see an increase of $1,272 in 2024. For someone with a student debt of $70,000, they will see an increase of $3,360. Table 1 provides examples of how much debt increase there will be for different existing debt levels.
Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who introduced a bill to freeze student debt in 2022, has slammed Labor for punishing students with another student debt hike.
As stated by Senator Mehreen Faruqi:
"The Albanese government is punishing millions of people with yet another punitive student debt increase on June 1.
"Student debt is already locking people out of the housing market, crushing dreams of further study and stopping people from starting a family, and things are only getting worse because of Labor.
"Under the Albanese Labor government, rent has soared by 20% and student debt increased by a whopping 16.62%. Labor isn't giving young people a chance, at all.
"Anything less than scrapping indexation in the May budget is a betrayal to students. It is obscene that Labor is making billions off students while handing big subsidies to the climate wrecking fossil fuel industry.
"Ballooning student debt is hitting young people, women, and renters the hardest, the same people who are being slammed by the cost of living and housing crisis.
"Labor's escalating student debt crisis is not just an abrogation of responsibility, but a gross injustice which is robbing people of their futures and deterring people from pursuing higher education.
"The Greens will continue to fight for students, advocate for their needs and call on the government to make meaningful and substantial changes, urgently."
"A system that traps people into a lifetime of student debt is a broken system and needs to go.
"All student debt should be wiped and uni & TAFE should be free. At the very least, Labor should stop student debt from spiralling out of control by scrapping indexation right now.
"Labor is responsible for the steepest increase in student debts in history and they are simply refusing to listen to young people, who are demanding meaningful change."
