HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator
How much you’ll repay on your student loan in 2026-27, under the new marginal repayment system — and how long your balance will take to clear.
Compulsory repayment / year
$3,071
Per fortnight
$118
Per month
$256
Repayment rate
15% (3.4% of total)
How this is calculated
| 15% band | 15% × ($90,000 − $69,528) | $3,071 |
| Total compulsory repayment | $3,071 | |
At this repayment income, a $25,000 HELP balance would take roughly 9 years to clear through compulsory repayments alone.
This is a rough figure before indexation. Your remaining balance is indexed each 1 June in line with wage growth, which stretches the real timeline a little; voluntary repayments and pay rises shorten it. It also assumes your repayment income stays the same each year.
Estimate only, for the 2026-27 income year. The ATO calculates your actual compulsory repayment when you lodge your tax return. Full workings and sources on our methodology page.
The big change: repayments are now marginal
Until mid-2025, HECS-HELP worked in a way that caught a lot of people out: once your income crossed a threshold, the repayment rate applied to your whole income, not just the part above it. Earning one dollar more could cost you hundreds.
From 1 July 2025 that’s gone. Compulsory repayments now work like income tax brackets — you only repay a percentage of the income above the first threshold. For 2026-27 that threshold is $69,528: earn less than that and your compulsory repayment is nil.
2026-27 repayment thresholds and rates
The rate applies only to income above $69,528 — except the top band, which the ATO charges as a flat 10% of your total repayment income.
| Repayment income | Compulsory repayment |
|---|---|
| $0 – $69,528 | Nil |
| $69,529 – $129,717 | 15c for each $1 over $69,528 |
| $129,718 – $186,050 | $9,028 + 17c for each $1 over $129,717 |
| $186,051 and over | 10% of total repayment income |
Source: ATO — Study and training support loans: rates and repayment thresholds (2026-27). These thresholds are indexed each year in line with average weekly earnings.
What counts as “repayment income”
This is the figure that trips people up. Your compulsory repayment is worked out on your repayment income, which is more than just your taxable income. The ATO adds these back on top of your taxable income:
- reportable fringe benefits;
- total net investment loss (including net rental losses);
- reportable super contributions (for example, salary sacrifice into super);
- exempt foreign employment income.
The salary-sacrifice trap: because reportable super contributions are added back, sacrificing salary into super to drop your taxable income below the threshold does not necessarily reduce your HECS repayment — the sacrificed amount is counted back in. It’s a common and expensive surprise.
Indexation and the one-off 20% reduction
Your outstanding balance is indexed once a year, on 1 June, so it keeps pace with the cost of living. Indexation is applied to whatever is left after your compulsory repayments — it is not interest, and there is no benefit to paying it off faster purely to “save interest” in the way there is with a mortgage. That’s why the “years to clear” figure in the calculator is marked as a rough, before-indexation estimate.
Separately, the Government applied a one-off 20% reduction to all study and training loan balances that existed on 1 June 2025, before that year’s indexation. If your balance already reflects that cut, enter the reduced figure above.
Sources: ATO — Study and training loans: what’s new and Compulsory repayments.