Podcast Series: Less Than 15
December 8, 2025
On 3 November 2024 the Australian Government announced it will reduce every Australian’s HELP or student loan debt by 20%.
This forms part of the changes to make HELP and student loan repayments fairer as presented by the Government on 2 November 2024. Details of this announcement are available at Making student repayments fairer.
This one-off 20% debt reduction measure will benefit 3 million Australians currently carrying a student loan debt. This decision will remove $16 billion in HELP and other student debt.
In addition to the $3 billion in debt that will be removed through the Government’s changes to cap the indexation applied to student loans to be either the lower of the Wage Price Index or the Consumer Price Index, backdated to 2023 – meaning that indexation will never be higher than the changes in wages.
The indexation and debt reduction measures reduce total HELP and other student loan debt by nearly $20 billion.
The measure recognises that many Australians are struggling in the current economy and takes pressure off the costs of living.
It will particularly help younger Australians, with around 70% of people repaying a HELP debt being 35 or younger.
Anyone with one of the following student loans will benefit from these measures:
Here’s an estimator to see an indicative amount of the 20% reduction on your outstanding HELP debt.
Following the passage of legislation, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will apply the one-off 20% reduction to an individual’s HELP or student loan account balance, before indexation is applied on 1 June 2025.
This means that indexation would apply only to the remaining loan debt balance e.g. after the HELP debt has been reduced by 20%.
This will be automatically done by the ATO.
To find out more visit the ATO Training and Support.
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