Students cop loan hit

UNIVERSITY students will have to pay back student loans when their earnings hit $45,000 under draft laws that have cleared the Senate.

How much students can borrow from taxpayers will be capped at $104,440, or $150,000 for medicine, dentistry and vet science students, after legislation passed the Upper House yesterday.

The Government had wanted to cap loans for life.

Labor and the Greens were opposed to lowering the threshold to repay loans from $55,000 to $45,000 a year.