First home buyers have dominated the headlines in recent months due to extortionate housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne, which fortunately we’ve had limited exposure to, due to our $345,000 median house price.

But young people seem to be copping the tough end of the stick again, this time through university.

Then-treasurer Joe Hockey’s comment in years gone by was that young people could afford a house if they got a good job.

Yet the avenue they must take to get that supposed good job, university, is also starting to carry a higher price tag. 

Students will be paying 7.8 per cent more for their degrees in four years’ time, although on the positive side, clinical loadings for dentistry and veterinary science students have been recognised and are looking like being maintained. 

For universities like Charles Sturt University, which use their resources to extend university opportunities to people with disadvantaged backgrounds, we certainly hope the changes will not cut those opportunities.

Thanks to proposed changes to HELP debts, formerly known as HECS, those students who do make it and finish will be paying those degrees off sooner.

Unlike the 70s when students got a free university education, paying off the debt once a student starts work has long been a reality.

But lowering that minimum income threshold from $50,000 to $42,000 means paying off the debt when they have less surplus funds.

They might save a bit of interest long term, but the question has to be asked what impact it will have on their saving power when it comes to that all-important goal of owning a home.

In an environment where wages growth has stalled research has found 21 per cent of people expect to retire with a mortgage. 

Ten per cent of retirees are currently paying off mortgages and this future increase is a worrying prospect younger and future taxpayers will have to contend with.

The government may have signalled it will introduce measures for first home buyers in next week’s budget, but it must be equally careful not to penalise young people in other ways.