Two new major initiatives to support current and former higher education students have been announced by the federal Labor government.
Last week, The Echo asked local Federal Labor MP, Justine Elliot, what she thought of the expected increase of HECS loans, which were set to soar by 4.7 per cent on June 1.
She referred to a reply by PM Anthony Albanese; during the week, he announced that more than three million Australians would have their student debt wiped, equating to around $3 billion.
Mrs Elliot said in a press release on Tuesday that it will benefit 20,000 people with tertiary debt on the North Coast.
She said, ‘The government will cap the HELP indexation rate to whatever is lower out of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index with effect from June 1, 2023, and backdate the relief to June 1 last year. This will benefit every person with a HELP debt, fixing the issue of last year’s spike in the CPI indexation rate of 7.1 per cent…’
The other changes that will ‘make a big difference to locals on the North Coast’, will be a $319.50 per week payment for those undertaking mandatory work placements for teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work qualifications.
‘The payment will provide around 68,000 higher education students and over 5,000 VET students each year with $319.50 per week during their clinical and professional placement periods’.
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