Honestly, just ignore it. The payments when they are made are so low that you don't even notice them. Fact of the matter for me is that once I was working and paying off my HECS debt, the money just went out of my pay before I got it so it wasn't like I ever missed the money anyway - I didn't have it before I started working and I didn't have it afterwards.

It took nine and a half years of working before mine was paid off - just in time for me to quit working and become a SAHM permanently. Oh well, at least I've paid the country back for educating me!

BW