Australian HECS-HELP & student finance,
in plain English.
According to the Australian Taxation Office HELP repayment thresholds and rates, estimate your HECS-HELP repayment from the published FY 2025-26 schedule, model the 1 June indexation on your outstanding balance, and compare Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY rates from Services Australia against your living arrangement.
Quick browse HECS-HELP calculator Universities Centrelink Guides My shortlist About this data
- ATO bands
- 4
- Min threshold
- $67k
- Max rate
- 17%
- Universities
- 39
Official data refresh cadence: Database through 2026-05-20. ATO HELP thresholds · FY updates from 1 July; indexation on 1 June each year (CPI vs WPI dual-cap on outstanding balances); Department of Education enrolment tables · periodic data.gov.au releases. Full schedule
Open my shortlistThe national picture
According to the Australian Taxation Office HELP schedule and Department of Education enrolment rows on data.gov.au, RMIT University leads this directory on enrolment (91k), while University of Melbourne leads on published QS place (#13) with 53k students, volume and prestige do not share a winner.
- 91k
- RMIT University enrolment leader
- #13
- University of Melbourne QS leader
- $67k
- HECS repayment floor
- 39
- TEQSA providers
According to the ATO HELP schedule and Department of Education enrolment rows (data.gov.au); QS places are publisher ranks. Not government advice.
Directory inventory · universities.group_code
How 39 TEQSA providers split by mission group
Exclusive group tags in the live universities table (Go8, ATN, IRU, RUN, OTHER). Counts sum to the directory total; orthogonal to state enrolment volume below. Source: Department of Education / TEQSA provider list via data.gov.au.
Two boards that do not share a winner
The HECS schedule answers “what rate applies at my income?” The state enrolment board answers “where are the students?” - both use the live directory, not a separate research essay.
HECS-HELP repayment rate by income
Repayment income at which each whole-percent rate begins · FY 2025-26
Marginal rates climb to a peak, then the top band switches to a flat 10% of entire repayment income
Students by state (directory)
Summed enrolment across 39 providers · thousands
State totals from the same universities table that powers /rankings and /universities
Try the interactive tools
Small, bookmark-grade calculators and pickers, built from our database releases, so you can explore the numbers instantly.
HECS-HELP quick estimate (FY 2025-26)
Worked example: how this is calculated
A graduate earning $75,000 pays nothing on the first $67,000 (below the FY 2025-26 repayment threshold), then 15% on the $8,000 above it: $8,000 x 15% = $1,200 compulsory repayment for the year. Change the income above to see your own band.
Compare up to 4 universities
Top universities by state
Centrelink maximum basic rate picker
Why PlainStudentAid
Free Australian HECS-HELP debt calculator, Centrelink Youth Allowance and Austudy estimator, and university comparison. Built from ATO and data.gov.au data.
Source: Australian Taxation Office HELP, TSL and SFSS repayment thresholds and rates · FY 2025-26 University enrolment aggregates come from Department of Education higher-education statistics via data.gov.au; Centrelink rates from Services Australia. Estimates only, not tax, financial or legal advice.
About this data
How PlainStudentAid works, and why you can trust these numbers
What this site is
PlainStudentAid is an independent, plain-language reference for Australian HECS-HELP debt and Centrelink student payments. We combine ATO repayment thresholds, data.gov.au university enrolment statistics, and Services Australia payment rates into a single calculator and comparison tool, with every figure traceable back to the issuing agency's own published tables.
Editorial process
- Source. Pull HECS-HELP repayment thresholds and rates from the ATO, university statistics from data.gov.au, and Centrelink Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY rates from Services Australia.
- Verify. An automated check confirms each release's row count matches the source dataset before publishing; any discrepancy is inspected against the original government source before going live.
- Publish. Every figure is rendered server-side from our database, which is itself traceable to a source row, so calculator outputs and rankings match the official tables exactly.
Editorial independence & corrections
The PlainStudentAid is independent and not affiliated with the ATO, Services Australia, the Department of Education, or any university; we accept no payment from any entity we cover. Found an error or a stale figure? File a correction via the contact page, we respond within 72 hours and publish corrections with a visible revision note. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
Frequently asked
What is HECS-HELP and who has to repay it?
HECS-HELP is the Australian Government loan that covers your student contribution amount for a Commonwealth Supported Place at an approved higher-education provider. You begin repaying compulsorily through the tax system once your repayment income (taxable income plus several adjustments) exceeds the ATO threshold, which for the 2025-26 financial year is $67,000 (raised from $54,435 by the 1 July 2025 reform). Repayments are now marginal: 15% of income from $67,000 to $125,000, 17% from $125,000 to $179,285, and a flat 10% of total income above $179,285.
How is HECS-HELP debt indexed each year?
Outstanding HECS-HELP balances are indexed on 1 June each year. Since the 2024 budget, indexation is calculated using the lower of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Wage Price Index (WPI), measured over the year to 31 March. PlainStudentAid shows the indexed balance projection alongside your repayment schedule so you can see whether your compulsory repayments out-pace indexation in any given tax year.
Where does the data come from?
Repayment thresholds and rates come directly from the Australian Taxation Office HECS-HELP rates page. University enrolment data comes from data.gov.au (Department of Education higher-education statistics release). Centrelink Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY rates come from Services Australia, updated each indexation cycle on 20 March and 20 September. All sources are linked in our methodology page.
Is this Australian Government advice?
No. PlainStudentAid is an independent data portal. We are not affiliated with the Australian Taxation Office, Services Australia, the Department of Education or any university. Our calculators are estimates only and do not constitute financial, tax or legal advice. Always confirm your specific repayment obligations through your myGov account linked to the ATO.
This page identifies the source records and data vintage used for its figures. Homepage boards re-query ATO HELP thresholds, Department of Education enrolment rows, and Services Australia payment tables from the portal database, no hand-typed national rates. Nothing here is financial advice; for any decision that matters, follow the primary source and consult a qualified professional (see our disclaimer). See also our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of FY 2025-26.