As someone who comes from a disadvantaged background and now has a $40k+ HECS debt, I would've loved to see this. A lack of HECS debt would've helped reduce at least one of my financial burdens at the moment, haha. But unfortunately at the same time I agree with Orb in the sense that there is a consequence for choosing units and ensures students think about their academic decisions.
In VIC the state govt have introduced free TAFE for priority skills/courses... so the argument for that is less weighted (from a VIC perspective, anyway). I definitely think if I had to choose between TAFE or Uni becoming free, it would 100% hands down be TAFE.
I think the key goal here is accessibility - from my perspective as a disadvantaged student I got knocked back from all the scholarships I applied for..... which kinda defeats the entire purpose of a disadvantage-based scholarship. I had to then go on & use Youth Allowance to support myself. I was the first in my family to even attend university - which gives you a picture as to the disadvantage. The HECS-HELP system is a great starting point for accessibility, but there's alot more that can be done.
Bridging the gap between those who take 10+ years to pay off their HECS vs. a financially-able student who can pay it off almost immediately imo is a priority.
Eh... unless you face(d) disadvantage you just can't begin to see how it impacts.
I've been out of uni altogether for nearly 2 years now and i've only paid off about $1,500 or so from my HECS. The system also works in a way where the repayments taken out of your pay are actually quite low overall. I earned $65k in my first year out and the repayments were only about $120 a fortnight back... so without voluntary contributions, you're gonna be there for a while.
yes i know the math doesn't add up, I got all my HECS payments back cos I was under the threshold. Decided to allocate $1,500 to HECS and save rest