Australia HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator (2026-27)

HECS-HELP is Australia's income-contingent student loan system for university tuition. Unlike a conventional loan, there's no interest charged in the traditional sense -- instead, the outstanding balance is indexed once a year (1 June) to reflect changes in the cost of living, and repayment is entirely determined by your income, deducted automatically through the tax system once your "repayment income" (broadly, taxable income plus certain add-backs like reportable fringe benefits and net investment losses) crosses a threshold.

The system changed significantly from 1 July 2025. Previously, HECS-HELP used roughly 19 flat-rate tiers applied to your WHOLE repayment income at once -- crossing a threshold by even one dollar could push your entire income into a higher flat rate, producing sharp "cliff" effects where a small pay rise could actually reduce your take-home pay. The new marginal system applies rates only to the portion of income within each band, exactly like income tax brackets, eliminating those cliffs. This calculator models the current marginal system and projects your balance forward year by year, accounting for annual indexation and any voluntary extra repayments you choose to make.

1. Repayment income. Broadly your taxable income, plus reportable fringe benefits, net investment losses, exempt foreign income, and reportable super contributions.
2. Compulsory repayment (marginal system, effective 1 July 2025). For 2026-27: 0% below A$69,528; 15% on the portion between A$69,528 and A$129,717; 17% (plus a fixed base amount) on the portion between A$129,717 and A$186,051; and a flat 10% of your TOTAL repayment income above A$186,051 (a deliberate cap, not a continuation of the marginal stack -- at the boundary, the marginal formula and the flat 10% figure coincide almost exactly).
3. Annual indexation. Each 1 June, your outstanding balance is indexed by the LOWER of CPI (to the March quarter) or the Wage Price Index (to the December quarter) -- a rule change backdated to 1 June 2023 specifically to prevent indexation from outpacing wage growth.
4. Balance projection. Each year in the projection: indexation is applied first to the opening balance, then the compulsory repayment (based on that year's repayment income) plus any voluntary extra repayment reduces the balance, with income growing at your assumed annual rate for the following year.

Using the calculator's default inputs (A$35,000 opening balance, A$85,000 repayment income, 3% income growth, 10-year projection, no voluntary repayments):

1. Repayment income above the A$69,528 threshold: 85,000 − 69,528 = A$15,472.
2. Compulsory repayment this year: 15,472 × 15% = A$2,320.80.
3. Projecting forward with 2.8% annual indexation (the 2026 rate) and 3% income growth, the debt is fully paid off within the 10-year projection horizon.
4. In year 1 specifically, indexation adds A$980.00 to the opening balance before the A$2,320.80 repayment is applied, leaving a year-end balance of approximately A$33,659.20.

### Below the Threshold

Someone with A$60,000 of repayment income owes A$0.00 in compulsory repayment for 2026-27, since this falls entirely under the A$69,528 threshold.

### A Higher Earner, Old System vs. New System

At A$150,000 of repayment income, this year's compulsory repayment under the current marginal system is A$12,476.46 -- lower than the A$12,950.00 that the same income would have owed under the OLD flat-rate-on-whole-income system, illustrating the marginal system's design goal of reducing repayments for people just above key thresholds.

• The exact FBT/gross-up figures used elsewhere in this platform's Australia calculators are unrelated to HECS-HELP -- this calculator's own figures (repayment thresholds, indexation rate, the one-off 20% balance reduction) come from a distinct source set, cross-corroborated across 5 independent sources including a direct fetch of H&R Block's published guide.
• The one-off 20% reduction applied to HELP balances as they stood immediately before the 1 June 2025 indexation is a real, widely-reported 2025 federal measure, but relies on a single corroborating secondary source in this build's research -- flagged as lower confidence than the repayment-threshold figures themselves. This calculator does not automatically apply that one-off historical reduction to your CURRENT balance input; enter your balance as it stands today.
• Multiple concurrent HELP-family loans (HECS-HELP alongside FEE-HELP, VET Student Loans, etc., which share the same repayment threshold system but are separate debts) are not modeled -- this calculator treats your input as a single combined balance.
• Repayment income's exact add-back components (reportable fringe benefits, net investment losses, exempt foreign income) are not separately itemized -- enter your already-calculated repayment income directly.
• Overseas repayment obligations for HECS-HELP debtors living abroad, which follow a parallel but separate reporting and repayment regime, are out of scope.
• Voluntary repayments do not receive any bonus or discount under current rules (a historical voluntary-repayment bonus was abolished some years ago) -- this calculator correctly applies voluntary repayments dollar-for-dollar with no bonus.

• Assuming HECS-HELP charges "interest" like a normal loan. It doesn't -- the balance is indexed once a year to broadly track cost-of-living changes, not charged interest at a market rate.
• Forgetting the marginal system replaced the old flat-rate tiers in 2025. If you're recalling how HECS-HELP repayments worked before 1 July 2025, the old system could produce a genuine pay cut from crossing a threshold -- the current system eliminates that specific problem.
• Confusing the repayment threshold with a tax-free threshold. Below the HECS-HELP repayment threshold, you owe nothing on your student debt specifically, but you may still owe ordinary income tax on the same income.
• Not accounting for indexation when estimating how fast your debt will shrink. Indexation adds to your balance every year before your repayment reduces it -- in a low-income year, indexation can actually outpace your repayment, temporarily growing the balance.
• Assuming voluntary repayments earn a discount. They don't under current rules -- a voluntary extra repayment reduces your balance dollar-for-dollar, with no bonus multiplier.

• H&R Block Australia's "Tax Academy: Understanding HECS-HELP" guide, fetched directly, cross-corroborated against 4 independent secondary sources (income-tax-calculator.com.au, austax.tools, taxbne.com.au, accountantplus.com.au), for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 marginal repayment thresholds and rates.
• atotaxcalculator.com.au "HECS Debt Indexation 2026," fetched directly, for the lower-of-CPI-or-WPI indexation rule (backdated to 1 June 2023) and the current 2026 indexation rate.
• atotaxcalculator.com.au, for the one-off 20% HELP balance reduction applied before the 1 June 2025 indexation (a single-source, lower-confidence figure -- see the caveat above).