Yesterday’s CPI increase means a 7 per cent interest rate on study loans. It was met with deplorathons from student reps and friends about the added burden

But Universities Australia was out, again (CMM March 20), explaining how HECs works, that struggling students only pay it once they are working and earning. Good-o, although as Mark Warbuton warns, recent graduates “are spending a significant part of their working lives repaying those debts (CMM March 6).

This is not a message UA, or members, will want widely heard, lest how long it takes to pay off study debt leads to questions as to whether degrees are over-priced, let alone good returns on investment.