Pascal Zoghbi graduated with a Bachelor of Business majoring in enterprise and innovation marketing in 2023 and now has more than $50,000 in HECS debt.

A young Aussie with more than $50,000 in HECS debt has shared why she regrets going to university as her debt continues to inch up. The government has promised to cut HECS and HELP debts by 20 per cent and while it’s welcome relief for millions, many will still be left with significant amounts owing.

Pascal Zoghbi graduated with a Bachelor of Business majoring in enterprise and innovation marketing in 2023. The 22-year-old Perth woman told Yahoo Finance she was shocked after checking her HECS debt recently and finding it had ballooned to $50,801 following last month’s indexation.

Zoghbi’s HECS debt was around $48,000 after she graduated, and she was under the impression her debt was on its way down thanks to several years of compulsory work repayments.

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“Because I knew I was paying it off, I genuinely thought it would be at least under $50,000,” she said.

“The fact that I saw it back to $50,000, if not more, that was shocking. I was like, ‘Are you serious?’, literally everything that I have [paid] is just now back again.”

While Zoghbi said she was looking forward to the upcoming 20 per cent reduction to HECS debts, she still has $40,000 left to repay.

Are you worried about your HECS debt? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com to share your story

“I’m still $40,000 in debt for a degree that is not worth being $40,000 in debt for. It used to be free, which baffles me,” she said.

“As a marketing degree, you cannot get enough money coming in in any job that’s going to be able to financially set you up to pay your HECS debt.”

The skyrocketing cost of university degrees means it is also taking more time for students to pay off their degrees.

Analysis by the Australia Institute found the average time it takes a student to pay off their HECS-HELP debt has jumped from 7.3 years in 2006 to 9.9 years. This is based on debts that have already been repaid.

Zoghbi said she doesn’t even want to think about how long it will take her to pay off her HECS debt.

“I don’t want to know. I’d probably cry,” she said.

Aussie exposes major uni regret due to $50,000 debt

Zoghbi now wishes she didn’t go to university and is worried about how it could impact her ability to get a home loan in the future.

“It’s not worth the debt at all,” she said. “I do not implement anything that I’ve learned at uni in my marketing job right now.”

Zoghbi said she knows many people working in marketing who don’t have degrees and instead have experience.