The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released new data, including updated information on Higher Education Loan Program (HELP, formerly HECS) debts.
The HELP data in the Taxation Statistics 2015–16 (available from Data.gov.au) is contained in Tables 20–22. Although the release primarily relates to the 2015–16 financial year, HELP is one of the programs for which data for 2016–17 is also included. All figures are at 30 June for the relevant financial year. Figures have not been adjusted for inflation.
Total amount of outstanding HELP debt
This release updates the total amount of outstanding HELP debt to $54.0 billion for the 2016–17 financial year, $9.3 billion above the estimate of$44.7 billion contained in the 2017–18 Budget (p. 10-29).
Figure 1: Total amount of outstanding HELP debt 2005–06 to 2016–17 financial years ($m)
(Source: ATO, Taxation Statistics 2015–16, published 27 April 2018.)
However, since HELP is an asset on the Government's balance sheet, the proportion of outstanding debt not expected to be repaid (DNER) is arguably more important than the overall size of the loan portfolio. The latest DNER estimate from the Australian Government Actuary is 25 per cent, or 18 per cent if vocational loans are not included (according to the Department of Education and Training Annual Report 2016–17 (p. 45)). An updated DNER estimate and projected HELP debt from 2017–18 is expected in the upcoming budget papers. More information about the budget treatment of HELP is available in the Parliamentary Budget Office’s paper on the HELP Impact on the Budget.
Number of people with outstanding HELP debt
The number of people with outstanding HELP debts reached 2.7 million in 2016–17, up from 2.5 million in 2015–16. This includes people who borrowed for Commonwealth supported (HECS-HELP) or full-fee (FEE-HELP) higher education qualifications, and vocational education qualifications (VET Student Loans, previously VET FEE-HELP). It also includes SA-HELP, for higher education students to defer the cost of their student services and amenities fees, and OS-HELP, for higher education students to defer the cost of eligible overseas study.
The number of people with HELP debts has increased fairly steadily since HELP was introduced as the replacement for HECS in 2005, as access to tertiary education and HELP loans has expanded. However, after 11 per cent growth per year from 2013–14 to 2015–16, growth during 2016–17 was down slightly to 8 per cent.
Figure 2: Total number of people with outstanding HELP debt 2005–06 to 2016–17 financial years
(Source: ATO, Taxation Statistics 2015–16, published 27 April 2018.)
Size of outstanding HELP debts
The number of debts above $50,000 also continued to grow in 2016–17, reaching 159,475, up from 125,650 in 2015–16. Among people with debts above $50,000, 14,046 have debts above $100,001, up from 10,996 in 2015–16.
The average amount of outstanding debt is much lower at $20,303, up from $19,396 in 2015–16 (rounded versions of these figures were published in the Department of Education and Training’s, Annual Report 2016–17 (p. 44), tabled last October, this ATO release publishes the underlying data for the first time).
Table 1: Number of people with outstanding HELP debt, by size of outstanding balance 2005–06 to 2016–17 financial years
| Outstanding HELP debt, years ending June |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
| Up to $10,000 |
649,355 |
638,162 |
635,236 |
629,541 |
657,876 |
696,577 |
723,714 |
768,048 |
799,772 |
827,484 |
851,313 |
893,574 |
| $10,000.01 to $20,000 |
401,194 |
437,979 |
456,966 |
462,428 |
471,039 |
471,194 |
495,681 |
524,986 |
566,386 |
619,799 |
665,697 |
679,259 |
| $20,000.01 to $30,000 |
111,094 |
132,786 |
166,941 |
200,610 |
224,071 |
252,253 |
269,787 |
296,244 |
338,949 |
403,064 |
473,584 |
509,360 |
| $30,000.01 to $40,000 |
21,504 |
30,173 |
39,528 |
54,470 |
71,669 |
91,733 |
114,051 |
131,384 |
157,758 |
195,492 |
242,240 |
281,594 |
| $40,000.01 to $50,000 |
4,106 |
6,923 |
10,406 |
15,131 |
21,976 |
31,679 |
42,338 |
53,877 |
67,468 |
84,863 |
110,455 |
135,795 |
| Over $50,000 |
1,084 |
2,614 |
5,293 |
9,734 |
15,141 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
| $50,000.01 to $60,000 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
11,978 |
17,444 |
23,705 |
32,258 |
43,096 |
56,919 |
70,265 |
| $60,000.01 to $70,000 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
4,601 |
7,322 |
10,589 |
15,002 |
21,035 |
29,235 |
37,363 |
| $70,000.01 to $80,000 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
2,429 |
3,507 |
5,009 |
7,433 |
10,629 |
15,164 |
19,996 |
| $80,000.01 to $90,000 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
1,515 |
2,126 |
2,943 |
4,147 |
5,827 |
8,120 |
10,809 |
| $90,000.01 to $100,000 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
1,034 |
1,391 |
1,851 |
2,527 |
3,563 |
5,216 |
6,996 |
| $100,000.01 and above |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
2,107 |
3,339 |
4,652 |
6,273 |
8,189 |
10,996 |
14,046 |
(Source: ATO and Parliamentary Library calculations, Taxation Statistics 2015–16, published 27 April 2018.)
Note amounts of debt up to $10,000 have been aggregated for Table 1—more detail is available in the source tables from the ATO.
There are currently two Bills before Parliament which propose changes to HELP: The Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Bill 2018, which includes proposals to apply borrowing limits across all HELP loans and reduce the minimum income at which people with HELP debts are required to make repayments; and the Education and Other Legislation Amendment (VET Student Loan Debt Separation) Bill 2018, which proposes to separate VET Student Loan debts from HELP debts—one effect of this change would be to separate data about VET Student Loans for vocational qualifications from the HELP data from 1 July 2019.