More diligent than a lot of former students, Jasmine Duque-Anne made a cursory check of her Higher Education Loan Program (Help) debt every now and then. Over three years she had slowly been whittling down the original debt of just over $139,000 that she accumulated studying an undergraduate degree in exercise science in Melbourne and a postgraduate degree in physiotherapy at Queensland’s Bond University.
The amount was still “crazy high” but she had no regrets – she loved her job working as a physio on the Gold Coast. It wasn’t until she heard a news story on the radio about the impact of rising inflation on Help debt that she checked again. She was horrified. “It’s now $143,430.”
