For more 2025 Federal Budget, see Woroni’s coverage of the budget’s welfare and cost of living measures here.

On Tuesday 25 March, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down Labor’s early pre-election budget for 2025–2026, promising Australians some ambitious and occasionally poorly-defined payment measures (provided they vote Labor, of course).

Woroni trawled through Chalmer’s budget so that you don’t have to, and in fact, we highly recommend that you don’t. Categorically, the 2025–6 Budget is not a good read for students. Whilst the education measures outlined in the budget market themselves towards the idea of improving access and quality to education at every stage, consideration of the tertiary sector feels like an afterthought. The Albanese government has largely taken this as an opportunity to implement a few more recommendations of the Universities Accord that were missing in last year’s budget.

The Universities Accord (‘The Accord’) was a report commissioned in 2022 to investigate and review reform potential in Australia’s higher education system. The final report was published in 2024 and can be found here.

It bears repeating here that all measures are subject to legislation being passed later this year, and thus they are all contingent on the results of the election. It remains to be seen how the Liberal Party will respond to any of Labor’s proposed education spending, or whether they have other ideas in mind.

HECS-HELP Debt Cuts

The most significant measure for tertiary students was in fact announced last year: the cutting of HECS-HELP debt by 20 percent across three million students. This is a reduction of around $16 billion in student debt, or just over $5,000 per student.

The government has stated that this measure will occur before indexation of debt this year on 1 June, and supplements changes in last year’s budget to cap indexation based on the lower of the Consumer Price or Wage Price index.

On top of this, the government has stated it has plans to reform the HECS repayment system. This includes increasing the amount a person can earn before compulsory repayments are required from $54,435 to $67,000 and lowering the nominal amount paid per compulsory repayment in general.

This will be a welcome reform and one that was missed last year. These measures implement recommendations of the Universities Accord to reform repayment arrangements for student loans and increase debt-forgiveness. 

This year’s budget once again does not address the impact of the Morrison Government’s Job-Ready Graduate scheme. This is a significant omission. 

The Accord report has stated it is clear the scheme did not deter students from studying humanities subjects and is in “fundamental conflict with the need to grow the number of people with higher education qualifications.” The report recommends that student HECS contributions are reduced to address the significant negative impacts of this scheme on humanities and social sciences students. In fact, it recommends the replacement of the scheme entirely. 

These criticisms have gone un-responded to by the Albanese Government entirely, and thus it appears the scheme is here to stay. As we head towards the election, the Australian Labor Party has foregone all opportunities to criticise the impact of the scheme on young voters – much to this Law/Arts student’s chagrin.

The Australian Tertiary Education Commission 

The government mentions the establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (‘ATEC’) — another recommendation of the Accord — a handful of times in the Budget. Again, this is not a surprising reference, and was introduced by the government last year in their Accord Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).

Among other things, the ATEC will be involved in monitoring and providing advice to the Government on the size, shape, and diversity of Australia’s tertiary education sector. It is unclear how this will occur, and the practical impact this will have on increasing support and representation for disadvantaged or marginalised student groups. This has not stopped the government from boasting about it in the budget papers.

The budget also briefly references plans to develop an understanding of the ‘true costs of delivery’ of tertiary education services to address pricing issues nationally. I can’t help but be intrigued by this as my courses trot out the same lectures which were recorded years ago whilst I pay thousands for the experience. Nonetheless, it is unclear whether ATEC merely understanding the costs of teaching nationally will result in any tangible changes for students.

If you want a crash course on tertiary education buzzwords, the government’s explanation of ATEC is your place to look. Perhaps they are chasing the high of the positive response to the National Student Ombudsman’s establishment, but there is much that remains to be seen.

What’s Missing

Apart from the HECS cuts, and reiterated funding for Free TAFE and FEE-FREE pre-university preparatory courses, there is little else that directly addresses tertiary education.

All of these measures have also been previously advertised by the Albanese Government, no doubt out of a desire to appeal to younger voters.

The international student caps first discussed in the 2024-25 Budget are not referenced. In fact, there is no reference to international students or the impact of shifting migration policy on the income of tertiary education institutions (and thus the quality of services provided by these institutions).

The Department of Education has reiterated its desire to support the proportion of international students employed in Australia after graduation, as well as the number of students enrolled in offshore education delivered by Australian providers. However, in the same breath, they have cut funding to International Education Support by just over a third from last year’s budget, with forward estimates of further cuts.

Last year’s budget also introduced prac payments for teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work students. Whilst this measure was largely welcomed by students, placement poverty still impacts all students in prac degrees who continue to receive under minimum wage while on placement. Moreover, students with practical degrees in veterinary science, psychology and physiotherapy continue to not be paid for their placements. 

These education measures are paired with a dearth of welfare and cost-of-living support that have direct potential to benefit students. For dutiful analysis on those measures, see Woroni’s coverage here.

Criticism aside, these measures have been announced previously but have gone unresponded to by the Coalition. Perhaps then, it’s best I settle down and welcome my $5,000 HECS cut with open arms.

Follow along as we continue to cover the issues raised at this year’s budget and federal election in the coming weeks.