See your exact compulsory HECS/HELP repayment for 2026-27 under the marginal repayment system. On a $85,000 salary with a $25,000 HELP balance, you'd repay about $2,321 a year (roughly $193/month) and clear the debt in around 13 years, once indexation is factored in. Enter your own salary and debt balance below for your exact figures, band by band.
Repayment starts
$69,528
nil below this
System
Marginal
since 1 July 2025
Top rate
10%
above $186,050
Indexation (2026)
2.8%
lower of CPI/WPI
Common salaries:
Common debt balances:
Compulsory HECS/HELP repayment
$2,321/year
Per month
$193
Per fortnight
$89
Effective rate of income
2.7%
How the repayment is calculated (marginal system)
| Band | Rate | Repayment |
|---|---|---|
| 15c per $1 over 69,528 | 15.0% | $2,321 |
| Total compulsory repayment | $2,321 |
Since 1 July 2025, HECS/HELP repayments are marginal: you only repay on the slice of income above each threshold, not a flat percentage of your entire income.
Estimated years to clear your debt
16.3 years
Assumes your $30,000 balance is indexed each 1 June at 2.8% (the most recent confirmed rate, the lower of CPI or the Wage Price Index), and your $2,321/year compulsory repayment stays flat in today's dollars. In reality, most people's income rises over time, which would clear the debt faster than this estimate; voluntary repayments would too.
Uses 2026-27 ATO repayment income thresholds and marginal rates. Treats gross salary as repayment income, which is accurate for a standard PAYG employee; if you have reportable fringe benefits, salary-sacrificed super above the compulsory rate, exempt foreign income, or net investment losses, your actual repayment income (and repayment) may differ. Years-to-clear is an estimate based on a flat future indexation assumption and a flat salary; it is not personalised financial advice. For your exact HELP balance, check the ATO's Study and Training Support Loans account via myGov.
Your HECS/HELP repayment isn't a flat percentage of your whole salary. Below $69,528of repayment income you owe nothing at all. Above that, you only repay a rate on the slice sitting in each band, the same marginal logic income tax uses, so crossing a threshold by a single dollar never triggers a sudden jump in what you owe. That's a genuinely different system from the one in place before 1 July 2025, when a flat percentage of your entire repayment income applied the moment you crossed a threshold.
Your employer withholds this repayment through PAYG alongside income tax and the Medicare Levy, based on the "repayment income" figure they estimate from your pay, and it gets reconciled against your actual repayment income once you lodge your tax return. Repayment income is a slightly broader number than gross salary, it adds back things like reportable fringe benefits and salary-sacrificed super above the compulsory Super Guarantee, so most standard PAYG employees see repayment income line up closely with gross salary.
The years-to-clear estimate above matters because your debt doesn't sit still while you repay it. Every 1 June, the outstanding balance is indexed by whichever is lower, CPI or the Wage Price Index, and that indexation gets added before that year's compulsory repayment is subtracted. At a low salary, indexation can genuinely outpace your compulsory repayment for a stretch, which is why the calculator flags when a balance isn't projected to clear within 60 years rather than showing a misleadingly precise number.
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On $85,000 repayment income, you're above the $69,528 threshold for 2026-27, so 15c per dollar over that threshold applies: ($85,000 - $69,528) x 15% = about $2,321 for the year, roughly $193/month. This is withheld from your pay progressively by your employer through PAYG, then reconciled at tax time.
The compulsory repayment system moved from a flat percentage of your entire repayment income to a marginal system, similar to income tax brackets. Previously, crossing a threshold by even $1 could jump your repayment by hundreds of dollars in one step. Now you only repay on the slice of income above each threshold, removing that cliff effect entirely.
Below $69,528 repayment income, you repay nothing. From $69,528 to $129,717, you repay 15c per dollar over $69,528. From $129,717 to $186,050, you repay $9,028 plus 17c per dollar over $129,717. Above $186,050, you repay a flat 10% of your total repayment income.
Repayment income is broader than your taxable salary. The ATO adds back total net investment losses, reportable fringe benefits, exempt foreign employment income, and reportable super contributions (like extra salary-sacrificed super above the compulsory Super Guarantee) to your taxable income to arrive at repayment income. For a standard employee with no salary-sacrificed extras or investment losses, repayment income is essentially the same as gross salary.
Since a 2024 legislative reform backdated to 1 June 2023, your HELP debt is indexed each 1 June by the lower of CPI (Consumer Price Index) or the Wage Price Index (WPI), not CPI alone. This protects borrowers from indexation running ahead of wage growth. The most recent confirmed rate, applied 1 June 2026, was 2.8%, the lowest since 2021.
Yes. Voluntary repayments on top of your compulsory repayment reduce your HELP balance directly and can meaningfully shorten the years-to-clear estimate this calculator shows, especially useful if indexation is currently outpacing your compulsory repayment at a lower salary. There's no bonus or discount for voluntary repayments under the current rules, but paying down the balance before the 1 June indexation date reduces the amount that gets indexed.
This calculator focuses specifically on your compulsory HECS/HELP repayment. For your full take-home pay including income tax and the Medicare Levy, use the Australia Salary Calculator; your HECS/HELP repayment shown here comes out of your pay in addition to that income tax and Medicare Levy withholding, not instead of it.
Related reading
Understand the thresholds and indexation mechanics behind your repayment.
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