Australian Student Debt Statistics [2022-2023]

Despite all the quizzes, examinations, and assignments, another challenge students in Australia face is student loans. Student loans or debt accounts for the borrowed money from a bank or any other financial or private organization that helps students pay for education and associated costs. Student debts have extremely low monthly repayments to ease up students.

It may sound harmonious, but the problem begins when these debts financially stress the students. In Australia, student loans are a big issue as most beginner-level employees or internees don’t have many high-salaried job options. This article will go through the Australian student debt statistics.

Student Debt Statistics Australia

Several studies and survey results show that there has been a constant increase in the number of student loans affecting the lives of Australians per year. Student debts, when combined with housing pressure and property costs, put heavy financial pressure on the victim. According to the Australian Government – Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, around 256.7 million AUD were provided to VET students in Australia.

Here’s a graph showing the value of VET student loans paid for studies undertaken in each month of 2021.

A survey suggests that around 11% (2.9 million) of Aussies are in debt under the Australian government’s Higher Education Loan Program (HELP). Around 1.3 million Australians had a student debt of over 20,000 AUD in 2019. Data and surveys from the taxation office have shown that student loans Australia have steadily increased over the past few years.

Increase in Student Loans

Many economists believe that student debt and loans badly affect the nation’s financial condition. With debt lingering on their head, we cut any student’s potential by half. It means that half of the Australian student power is going to waste due to the heavy student loan programs. The number of outstanding Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts in Australia has increased considerably over the past decade.

Here’s a graph by Statista showing the increase in HELP loans from 2011 to 2020.

Around 2,852 people owed the HELP debt in 2019-2020. Interestingly, the number of HELP debtors has decreased over the past few years. However, the total debt above 50,000 AUD owed keeps on increasing. It reached 256,053 from 2019 to 2020, rising from 244,201 in the financial year 2018-2019. Here are several other Australian student loans statistics.

• Around 24,544 Aussies had a student debt above 100,001 AUD in 2019-2020.
• The average debt owed by each person in 2019 was around 23,280 AUD.
• The time taken by students to pay their outstanding loans has also been increasing over the past years.
• The time taken reached 9.3 years in 2019.
• Over 1.3 million had student loans of more than 20,000 AUD in 2021.

Conclusion

Student loans are a growing issue in Australia, and more people are falling into the trap of student debt every day. This issue must be controlled by taking appropriate measures. All the data and statistical figures in the article above have been taken from official Australian sources.