Among all the outrage at the lower ($45 800) HELP loan repayment income threshold passed by parliament, a small group of students had a win, those at private institutions accredited as universities. Until now students at Bond, Torrens, U Notre Dame Australia and U Divinity paid the 25 per cent loan fee under the FEE HELP scheme but this will be dropped because the government accepted an amendment by Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi.

Good, but not good enough, says Simon Finn, from the Council of Private Higher Education. “The HELP Loan Fee is now simply an unfair tax applied to students whose educational aspirations are met by an independent higher education provider that is not a university,” he says.