chookyn
poulet de montagne
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2003
- Messages
- 372
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2003
so far the only difference i've noticed is that HECS is (obviously) better...
FEE-help initially appears to be good, but it's basically a high interest loan. They 'say' there's no interest, which is silly because there's a 20% LOAN FEE - might as well be the same thing! That's equivalent to a 20% interest rate - i.e. for every $500 you borrow, you pay the gov. back $600. Outrageous. And the debt is indexed each year, so it always keeps its real value. (If only salaries and wages were 'indexed'...)
With fee-help, if you pay back a lump-sum of more than $500, you get a 10% discount (in effect you'd still be paying a 10% loan fee), whereas HECS you'd get a 20% discount, and no 'loan fee'? (correct me if i'm wrong)
my specific course doesn't have HECS places, (only education + nursing ones do at my institute) so of course fee-help is the only option, since i can't afford to pay everything up-front. i guess it's good short-term help but in the long term it's a bit rich
unless you either die or never earn over the threshold so the debt is never paid back! if not, then you've got a pretty hefty long-term debt, but at least it can be gradually paid off according to what you earn...
FEE-help initially appears to be good, but it's basically a high interest loan. They 'say' there's no interest, which is silly because there's a 20% LOAN FEE - might as well be the same thing! That's equivalent to a 20% interest rate - i.e. for every $500 you borrow, you pay the gov. back $600. Outrageous. And the debt is indexed each year, so it always keeps its real value. (If only salaries and wages were 'indexed'...)
With fee-help, if you pay back a lump-sum of more than $500, you get a 10% discount (in effect you'd still be paying a 10% loan fee), whereas HECS you'd get a 20% discount, and no 'loan fee'? (correct me if i'm wrong)
my specific course doesn't have HECS places, (only education + nursing ones do at my institute) so of course fee-help is the only option, since i can't afford to pay everything up-front. i guess it's good short-term help but in the long term it's a bit rich
unless you either die or never earn over the threshold so the debt is never paid back!
if not, then you've got a pretty hefty long-term debt, but at least it can be gradually paid off according to what you earn...
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