‘Monster amount': 29-year-old Aussie reveals problem with HECS debt
Sarah Jane, 29, works a corporate job in Sydney, lives on The Central Coast, and creates social media content on the side.
At the moment, she has been exploring sharing financial content with her followers. She recently created a TikTok video revealing how she spent $1600 during a particularly expensive week, with that clip amassing over 100,000 views.
Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Jane said she started creating money content because she enjoys watching it herself.
There is also a still fair amount of mystery around how other people spend their money, but whenever she speaks with her friends, everyone expresses feeling poor and wonders how other people their age are budgeting.
'We've never made more money and never been poorer,' she said.
In Ms Jane's case, while she declined to get into the specifics surrounding her income, she said her HECS-HELP debt, which is currently around $30,000, is something that plagues her.
'I'm the most risk adverse person financially. I don't have a credit card, or a car loan and I don't have any personal debt,' she said.
'HECS was sold to us as teenagers as this interest free loan but indexation is the same as interest.'
Higher education loans in Australia don't charge interest, but they are subject to indexation based on inflation.
In 2023, millions of Australians saw their loans increase by a whopping 7.1 per cent — the biggest jump seen in 30 years. In June 2024, the indexation rate was 4.7 per cent.
HECS-HELP loans are now indexed in line with either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Wage Price Index (WPI), depending on which figure is smaller, with this change backdated to June 1, 2023.
On June 1, 2025, a 3.2 per cent indexation was applied to all student loan debts. However, last week, the Labor government introduced a bill to parliament. If passed, it will see student loan debts slashed by 20 per cent for approximately three million graduates.
Ms Jane was 24 when she completed her bachelor's degree majoring in media. It took her longer than average to finish because she paused her degree to travel.
She's now shocked that, even with five years of full-time work under her belt, she is still paying it off.
'I thought my HECS was not going to be a concern in my life. I'll get a bachelor's degree and I'll work in my industry and pay it off,' she explained.
'It is still $30,000 or something.'
Living with that debt hanging over her head means it is a 'bigger piece' of her life than she would like.
'I'm paying off a monster amount of HECS debt,' she said.
The 29-year-old said the cost of living crisis has made her notice things like her student debt.
'As someone that gets paid monthly, it feels like it evaporates. The cost of everything has gone up dramatically,' she said.
'I commute from The Central Coast to Sydney and it is $20 just on transport. I bring my lunch and breakfast to work every single day and it still adds up to $40 a day between transport and buying yourself one or two coffees.'
Ms Jane said she feels like it is so easy to spend more than you want to as it 'snowballs' and everything costs so much money these days.
The young worker claimed that she's a complete type-A personality, with a spreadsheet where she tracks her ingoings and outgoings. However, being diligent often isn't enough.
For instance, Ms Jane was 'massively shocked' when she spent $1600 in a single week, as she often only spends $350 a week.
The $1600 spend was also a week where she had a few social occasions collide, including her best friend's birthday.
'It was the perfect storm and a one-off week,' she said.
What she's most proud of, though, is that she has a firm understanding of her finances, even if she's sometimes stunned by the cost of living.
'I used to find finance really intimidating, I found it really scary and it used to make me massively anxious,' she said.
'The more you understand it the less confronting it is.'
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