I can't wait to see the testimonials from the 'enriched' lives of students who signed up for CRISP for Students early. I understand perfectly the whole student loan thing - I have approximately that amount myself. My sister has an approximately 80K NZD / 65K USD student loan... She will have 12% of her wages deducted for earnings exceeding $18,000 NZD until the balance is paid off. Let's be honest here, if it were not for the fact that she signed up to CRISP for Students plan, she may not have an earlier opportunity to pay it off than well into her 30's. Even if she were to earn an average of 80k NZD over the next 10 years (she is 24), she would not settle the balance - her final $5000 would clear after she turned 35. She would have lost $7400 per year to servicing student loan repayments. This would be on top of her taxes (~25k yearly), compulsory retirement savings plans (4%), council rates and living costs. If she ends up earning less than that on average, say 65k NZ over 10 years, she won't pay it off until she is about 40...

At some stage she is going to want to service an even larger debt for a property (CRISP for Housing?), it would take a combined income to afford a home loan while paying off student debt. Where is the money to come from for investments to get ahead!?

On the plus side, the 2015 graduates won't be the worst off in another year right?