Monica, who asked for her surname to be withheld, will graduate this year and become a registered psychologist after six years of study.

While Monica said she was still happy with her career choice, there were many things she would like to go back and tell her teenage self.

Monica grew up in a low-income household and, after finishing school, she didn’t have much parental support.

“I got kicked out of home. I was 18 years old and completely on my own,” she said.

As she was selecting her first degree, Monica remembers steering clear of Victoria’s more prestigious universities, such as Monash University and the University of Melbourne, because she believed they had the highest fees.

However, she soon found herself “sucked in” by the marketing campaigns of private tertiary education providers.

She ended up enrolling in a Bachelor of Criminology and Justice degree with one of those tertiary training colleges, the main drawcard of which was that students could finish the degree in two years instead of three.

“That was really attractive to me because I was living out of home. I was thinking, ‘This will help me find a job faster,'” she said.

“And the reality was, when I finished, it didn’t actually help me find a job faster. No-one cared that you had finished a degree in two years.”

That degree cost Monica $66,000 and now makes up a large portion of her debt.

One key thing Monica said she didn’t realise when she signed up for the degree was that there were Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) on offer at universities teaching the same degree.

A CSP is a subsidised place at an Australian university or approved higher education provider where part of your fees are paid by the government.

Those fees do not need to be repaid and are not a loan.

In Monica’s case, getting a CSP at a university would have halved her fees.

Monica said she was “beside herself” several years later when she found out how much she could have saved in student fees.

“I just felt very naive and embarrassed,” she said.

“I wish that I was more aware of what a Commonwealth Supported Place was, and what it can actually do for you.”

After finishing her criminology degree, Monica ended up completing a graduate diploma at the same private tertiary college.

However, she then needed to study for a further graduate diploma at Deakin University, which included a thesis component, before qualifying for entry to a master’s degree in professional psychology, also at Deakin University.

As she had reached the HECS/HELP borrowing limit of $126,000 – the amount is higher for some students studying some courses, such as Medicine – Monica needed to pay the $33,000 for her master’s degree up front.

In order to afford the fees, Monica took two years off her studies and work full-time.

“I pretty much saved like mad, so I could actually afford to pay for the master’s degree up-front,” she said.

The cost of a university degree can vary wildly depending on the course studied and at which institution.

Under changes implemented by the Coalition government in 2021, some courses, such as Arts-related degrees, became more expensive, while the fees for others, like teaching and nursing, were reduced.

Department of Education figures released last July show arts, law and commerce students can expect to pay nearly $17,000 a year for their courses, compared to just over $4600 for agriculture or nursing students.

A person graduating from a three-year nursing degree would expect a student loan debt of $14,000.

But a recent graduate of a three-year degree in history would have a HECS debt of $51,000.

Last year, the Albanese Government retrospectively changed the way HECS/HELP debts are indexed in response to a public outcry when indexation rates – tied to inflation – hit 7.1 per cent in July 2023.

Indexation is now based on either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Wage Price Index (WPI), whichever is lower.

During his election campaign, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also committed to slashing the HECS/HELP debts by 20 per cent, with Labor saying it plans to introduce the required legislation as its first bill when parliament resumes later this month.

While the changes were likely to be a big help, Monica – who is now 28 years old – said she could still foresee her huge student debt holding her back.

“I definitely think this will be a major issue for me in the long term, especially in terms of housing,” she said.

While a bank manager had recently assured Monica she would likely still be able to get a home loan because she had been frugal in her spending, it would still be a burden, she said.

“It will create difficulties for me in the sense that, rather than building upon other things in my life that could be really helpful for me, I’ll be paying this off for a very long time.”

Monica said she wanted to warn young people to do their research when looking to enrol in a tertiary education course.

“You need to do your due diligence and really explore and compare all of the different courses that are offered at the different universities. It’s surprising how much variation there can be,” she said.

Finance expert Joel Gibson agreed, saying people shouldn’t be treating student loans as “free money”.

“When you enrol in a degree, you’re effectively taking out a loan for tens of thousands of dollars,” he said.

“Ideally, that loan is what we call ‘good debt’ – it’s funding your personal growth and empowering you to make many times that money back later in life.

“HECS/HELP and other student loans are some of the cheapest and most productive debt you can have, but they’re still debt and they’re not a bottomless well of support.

“Don’t dive in if you’re not sure – take some time off study to make a plan, or start working and see where your passion leads you.

“Do your research and get some advice from knowledgeable family, friends, your super fund, a free financial counsellor – anywhere.”