Subsidies.............?

Any payment to a business or economic sector is a subsidy.

HECS is an AU thing, right? I can tell you what I think if it were done in the US.

The various stimulus packages went out in the form of tax incentives, tax credits and payments to state and local government, sometimes in the form of grants. For something to be considered a subsidy in the more formal sense, it would need to be aimed into a particular business, industry or economic sector. It's usually intended to describe a sort of propping up, or bolstering of a segment of the market to encourage demand enough to reach a self sustaining level, or to temporarily ease a problem such as a hardship the industry has encountered.

So, yes, some of the stimulus packages were subsidies in their effect. Others were basically transfer payments, from the federal revenue sources to the state or local bodies who's revenues are more abruptly affected by economic downturns.

If the government makes direct payments on behalf of a student, to cover the cost of the student's share of higher education, then it sort of hinges on how much the payment covers. If it covers it all, it seems like more of a benefit than a subsidy. Subsidy sort of implies something short of the whole cost. So there it's a matter of who's perspective. From the student perspective, the whole thing would be paid, so its a benefit. From the state or local government that contributes the other portion of the cost, it would be more of a subsidy, since they are still paying something.

Don't know if any of this is useful, probably better to weigh the responses from AU folks a lot heavier.

Good luck!