2025-05-30
On 1 June 2025, student debts will rise by 3.2%. This indexation rate, which is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), is a product of the Albanese Government’s reforms which capped student debt indexation to the lower of the Wage Price Index (WPI) or the CPI.
Though the Albanese Government has committed to wiping 20% of student debt, the indexation rate of 3.2% will still apply to the remaining loan debt balance (i.e. after the student debt has been reduced by 20%).
Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Higher Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who relentlessly pushed the Albanese Government to wipe student debt and address soaring indexation, has said the impending 3.2% rise shows that much more needs to be done.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Labor’s so-called solution to rising student debt indexation still means that the mountain of student debt keeps growing every year, even when people aren’t earning enough to pay them off.
“For the many people who take decades to pay off their student debt, a one-off student debt cut will be quickly offset by continued annual student debt hikes.
“A token, one-off student debt cut won’t fix the fact that under Prime Minister Albanese, people are graduating with $50,000 arts degrees and a swelling debt burden that makes it harder to put food on the table.
“Scrapping the fee hikes of the failed job-ready graduates scheme should be a matter of urgency for the Labor government if they are serious about providing relief to students.
“Because of Greens pressure, Labor agreed to wipe 20% of student debt, but the only way to make things fairer for young people is to wipe student debt completely. University should be free, like it was when the Prime Minister went to uni.
“With more power than ever in the Senate, the Greens will continue to fight for a future where TAFE and university are free, and student debt doesn’t exist.”