With universities returning from next week, Leader of the Opposition and Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten has warned that local students will pay more for their education under the Abbott Government.

“For the thousands of students undertaking tertiary study, their HECS and HELP debts will incur thousands of dollars extra in interest,” Mr Shorten said.

“And this won’t just impact current and future students. Under the Abbott Government’s plan, the indexation changes will apply to debts incurred by former students, continuing students and new students.”

Mr Shorten said that from 1 June 2016, indexation of student debts would move from the Consumer Price Index of 2 per cent up to a potential 6 per cent.

“Despite promising that university fees would not increase prior to the election, the Abbott Government will hit local students with higher fees and perhaps put university out of reach.”

“What’s worse is that these hikes are retrospective. Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne are punishing students who completed their study well before this budget of broken promises.”

ENDS