The Barefoot Investor has insisted HECS is a 'good debt' after a mother revealed her son had racked up $85,000 and was struggling to find work. Megs wrote to Scott Pape to say her 33-year-old son was left with the huge loan after studying two degrees. She said her son was employed full-time, but not in the industry he had studied for and that the debt felt like a noose around his neck. Mr Pape said her son had made the mistake of racking up a huge bill studying for something that would not set him up for the future.