If you earn $100,000 a year and have a HECS-HELP debt, your compulsory student loan repayment in 2025–26 is $4,950 a year — about $95.19 a week, or $190.38 a fortnight. That comes on top of $20,788 in income tax and $2,000 in Medicare levy, leaving you with $72,262 a year in take-home pay.
That $4,950 figure surprises a lot of graduates, because it is lower than the old system would have charged. From 1 July 2025, HECS-HELP repayments switched to a marginal system: you only repay on the slice of your income above a $67,000 threshold, instead of paying a percentage of your entire income. This guide explains exactly how the new system works on a $100,000 salary, how it compares with the old rules, and how long it takes to clear a typical debt.
Assumptions used in this article: Australian resident, $100,000 repayment income in 2025–26, no salary sacrifice, no reportable fringe benefits and no net investment losses. Repayment income is usually close to your taxable income, but the add-backs below can push it higher.
HECS repayment on $100,000 at a glance
| Annual | Monthly | Fortnightly | Weekly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $100,000 | $8,333.33 | $3,846.15 | $1,923.08 |
| Income tax | $20,788 | $1,732.33 | $799.54 | $399.77 |
| Medicare levy (2%) | $2,000 | $166.67 | $76.92 | $38.46 |
| HECS repayment | $4,950 | $412.50 | $190.38 | $95.19 |
| Take-home pay | $72,262 | $6,021.83 | $2,779.31 | $1,389.65 |
Without a HECS debt, the same $100,000 salary would leave you with $77,212 a year. Your student loan costs you $4,950 a year in take-home pay — roughly 5% of your gross salary — until the debt is gone.
How the 2025–26 HECS repayment is calculated
The new marginal repayment system, in force from 1 July 2025, works like the income tax brackets. You pay nothing on income up to the threshold, then a set rate on each slice above it:
| Repayment income (2025–26) | Compulsory repayment |
|---|---|
| $0 – $67,000 | Nil |
| $67,001 – $125,000 | 15c for each $1 over $67,000 |
| $125,001 – $179,285 | $8,700 plus 17c for each $1 over $125,000 |
| $179,286 and above | 10% of total repayment income |
On a $100,000 repayment income, only the $33,000 above the $67,000 threshold is counted: 15% of $33,000 is $4,950. That is the whole calculation — there is no percentage charged on the first $67,000 at all.
This is a big change from the old system, which charged a percentage of your entire income once you crossed the threshold. Under the old 19-tier system, a $100,000 income attracted a 5.5% rate on the full amount — $5,500 a year. The new system saves you $550 a year at this income. The old system also had a cliff: earning one dollar over the $54,435 threshold suddenly made 1% of your entire income repayable. The marginal system removes that cliff entirely — earn $67,001 and you owe just 15 cents.
The full picture: tax, Medicare and HECS on $100,000
Your employer withholds all three deductions from your pay through the PAYG system, so you never pay HECS separately — it simply comes out of each pay packet alongside your tax. Here is how the three deductions stack up:
| Deduction | How it is worked out | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | $4,288 + 30% of $55,000 | $20,788 |
| Medicare levy | 2% of $100,000 | $2,000 |
| HECS repayment | 15% of $33,000 above $67,000 | $4,950 |
| Total deductions | $27,738 | |
| Take-home pay | $100,000 − $27,738 | $72,262 |
Your effective deduction rate is 27.7%, and your marginal rate on each extra dollar is 47% — 30% income tax, 2% Medicare levy and 15% HECS — until your income passes $125,000, where the HECS rate steps up to 17 cents in the dollar. That is worth knowing before you negotiate a pay rise: a $10,000 rise from $100,000 to $110,000 adds $3,000 of income tax, $200 of Medicare and $1,500 of extra HECS, leaving you $5,300 better off — still a good gain, but only just over half the headline rise.
What counts as repayment income?
Your HECS repayment is based on your repayment income, not just your salary. Repayment income is your taxable income plus four add-backs:
- Net investment losses, such as negatively geared rental property losses
- Reportable fringe benefits, such as a salary-packaged car
- Reportable super contributions, including salary sacrifice into super
- Exempt foreign employment income, if any
This matters because the add-backs can push you over the $67,000 threshold even if your taxable income is below it. Salary sacrificing into super is the classic trap: it lowers your taxable income, which cuts your income tax, but the sacrificed amount is added back for HECS purposes, so your repayment does not fall. If you earn $100,000 and salary sacrifice $10,000 into super, your taxable income drops to $90,000 but your repayment income stays at $100,000 — and your HECS repayment stays at $4,950.
Your employer withholds HECS repayments based on the tax file number declaration you lodged when you started the job. If your circumstances change during the year — a pay rise, a second job, or a bonus — the withholding may not match your final liability, and the difference is settled when you lodge your tax return. A large bonus can mean a bigger HECS bill at tax time, so it is worth setting money aside.
HECS repayments at other incomes (2025–26)
| Repayment income | HECS repayment | Weekly | Take-home pay* |
|---|---|---|---|
| $70,000 | $450 | $8.65 | $56,362 |
| $80,000 | $1,950 | $37.50 | $61,662 |
| $90,000 | $3,450 | $66.35 | $66,962 |
| $100,000 | $4,950 | $95.19 | $72,262 |
| $120,000 | $7,950 | $152.88 | $82,862 |
| $150,000 | $12,950 | $249.04 | $97,212 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $384.62 | $119,862 |
*Take-home pay shown is after income tax and Medicare levy as well as the HECS repayment, for a resident with no other deductions or offsets. The pattern is clear: repayments grow quickly with income, but they never exceed 10% of your repayment income.
How long until a $100,000 earner clears their debt?
At $4,950 a year, a $30,000 HECS debt would take about six years to clear through compulsory repayments alone, ignoring indexation. A $50,000 debt would take about ten years. But indexation adds to the balance every 1 June, and your repayments rise as your pay rises, so the real timeline depends on both.
Two recent changes help. First, a one-off 20% cut was applied to every HELP balance that existed on 1 June 2025 — a $50,000 debt became $40,000 overnight. Second, indexation is now capped at the lower of CPI or the Wage Price Index, after the 7.1% indexation shock of 2023. Indexation still grows your debt each year, but the cap keeps it closer to wage growth than to price growth.
If you want to clear the debt faster, you can make voluntary repayments at any time through the ATO. Whether that is a good idea depends on what else you would do with the money. HECS debt has no real interest rate — only indexation — so paying it off early rarely beats paying down a mortgage or credit card first. But a voluntary repayment does reduce your balance before the next 1 June indexation, and clearing the debt entirely frees up $4,950 a year of take-home pay, which is a meaningful pay rise in itself. Our HECS repayment calculator lets you model different incomes and debts.
What happens if your income drops?
Because the system is now marginal, a drop in income reduces your repayment smoothly rather than in steps. If your income falls from $100,000 to $80,000, your repayment falls from $4,950 to $1,950 — a saving of $3,000 a year. If it falls below $67,000, repayments stop entirely until your income recovers. There is no penalty for paying nothing while you are under the threshold, and your debt simply waits, growing only by indexation.
Parental leave is the most common reason incomes dip. Your HECS repayment is based on the income year as a whole, so a year spent partly on parental leave pay will usually mean a lower repayment. The debt itself is not written off or paused — it keeps being indexed each 1 June — but no compulsory repayment is due while your repayment income is under the threshold.
What changes in 2026–27?
The threshold rises each year with average weekly earnings. For 2026–27 the minimum repayment threshold is $69,528, up from $67,000. On a $100,000 income that cuts the repayment slightly, to 15% of $30,472 — about $4,571 a year. The bracket structure stays the same, with 15 cents in the dollar up to $129,717, then 17 cents, then a 10% cap on total income at the top.
Frequently asked questions
How much HECS do I pay on $100,000?
In 2025–26 you pay $4,950 a year — 15% of the $33,000 of your income above the $67,000 threshold. That is $412.50 a month, $190.38 a fortnight or $95.19 a week.
Is the HECS repayment taken out of my pay automatically?
Yes. Your employer withholds it through PAYG along with your income tax and Medicare levy, based on the tax file number declaration you completed when you started. The ATO applies it to your HELP debt when you lodge your tax return.
Does salary sacrifice reduce my HECS repayment?
No. Reportable super contributions — including salary sacrifice — are added back to your taxable income to work out your repayment income. Sacrificing into super cuts your income tax but leaves your HECS repayment unchanged.
What was the HECS repayment on $100,000 under the old system?
Under the old 19-tier system, $100,000 attracted a 5.5% rate on your entire income — $5,500 a year. The new marginal system saves you $550 a year at this income.
Does my HECS debt affect my borrowing power?
Yes. Lenders treat your compulsory repayment as a committed expense, so a $4,950-a-year repayment reduces the amount you can borrow for a home loan. Clearing the debt, or earning enough that the repayment is a small share of your income, improves your borrowing capacity.
What happens to my HECS debt if I move overseas?
You still have to repay it. If you move overseas you must notify the ATO, and if your worldwide income is above the minimum threshold you must make repayments based on that income. The debt does not disappear when you leave Australia.
Conclusion
On a $100,000 salary in 2025–26, your HECS-HELP repayment is $4,950 a year — $95.19 a week — under the new marginal system. Combined with $20,788 of income tax and $2,000 of Medicare levy, it leaves you with $72,262 a year in take-home pay. The new system is fairer than the old one: you pay nothing on the first $67,000, 15 cents in the dollar above it, and $550 a year less than you would have under the old 5.5% flat rate.
If you want to see what you would pay at a different salary, or how long your own debt will take to clear, try our HECS repayment calculator or our $100,000 salary page. And if a pay rise is on the horizon, remember that at this income your marginal rate including HECS is 47% — so check what the rise is really worth before you celebrate.