Minimum repayment income threshold for 2025-26: $67,000.

For the 2025-26 income year a new marginal repayment system applies to HELP and other student loan debts. Under this system, compulsory repayments are calculated only on the portion of repayment income that exceeds the minimum threshold, rather than on total repayment income.

- Below $67,000 of repayment income: no compulsory repayment is required.
- Above $67,000: the marginal repayment rates begin to apply, charged only on the income above the threshold.

So the dollar figure asked for - the repayment income below which no compulsory repayment is required, and above which the marginal rates start - is $67,000.

Controlling authority for the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP): the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which administers and collects compulsory HELP repayments through the income tax system. (The HELP scheme itself sits under the Australian Government's Department of Education, with debts administered and collected by the ATO.)