Greek Australian students have voiced their anger at comments made by a leading academic saying that if students are able to travel to Europe, they should be able to pay for HECS.

Professor Bruce Chapman of the Australian National University argues that students should be asked to pay back at least $2,000 of their outstanding student loan HECS debt if they travel or move to another country for more than six months.

“If people can afford to go to Europe or the US and travel around or work then I think they can afford to make this sort of repayment,” he told The Australian.

The talk of altering the HECS repayment system has irked many current Greek Australian students.

La Trobe University arts and accounting student, Tina Halkias, 24, says she wouldn’t have been able to travel to Greece to meet her extended family if she was lumped with an upfront payment.

Working as a casual at the university, she says a $2,000 fee would put an end to her ability to travel.

“I’m only guaranteed two shifts a week, I don’t work that often,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“So the money I do make I use when I go out, and when I have travelled it’s been built up through savings, so if I had to pile a HECS fee on top of that I wouldn’t be able to travel.”

Many students don’t classify travel as a holiday. Rather, it’s become a necessity as a way to visit family and to figure out if working overseas is right for them.

To have the experience catagorised as superfluous doesn’t sit well with them.

Deakin University student Marietta Margheriti, 21, is about to start her fourth year in her psychology degree and expects to continue with university for a while longer, undertaking a masters as well.

With family in both Greece and Italy, her travels have been much more than just for pleasure.

“It’s not like I’m going over there to party, it’s to meet my family, extend my language,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

Miss Halkias also agrees.

“It’s not just a holiday, it’s a learning experience,” she says.

With the cost of an average four-year degree exceeding $18,000, the government’s burden in paying for a student’s university degree up front is sizeable.

According to the December budget figures, the value of outstanding federal student loans is projected to rise from $30.6 billion to more than $52 billion by 2018.

Professor Chapman says billing graduates who are working overseas would help the government reap back some of the money they are owed.

“My sense is the community does not like high-income earners leaving Australia and in some cases never paying back their student loans,” he says.

According to The Australian, of the 300,000 Australian students who graduate each year, around 10 per cent work abroad within four years.

The Grattan Institute estimates that if the Australian government imposed a flat repayment scheme on expatriate workers, it could recoup $180 million over three years.

Currently, students in Australia will only start paying back HECS after they begin earning a salary over $53,345 a year, but if they work overseas and don’t file an Australian tax return, they go unnoticed.

As a student under the HECS system currently, Miss Halkias has no qualms about paying back the money once she’s working full time.

“Once you start working, then I can understand paying HECS off slowly,” she says.