My parents weren't in a position to help so it was HECS and working a part-time job to self-fund studies for my brother. He'd work 20-30 hours a week in retail, picked up odd jobs doing counting work for the electoral role, government surveys like monitoring bus usage etc. This allowed him to earn enough to declare independence from my parents despite living in the same house to be eligible for New Start/Student assistance payments.
Those payments helped him make ends meet while he travelled to the UK for an 8-12 week placement. After uni as a resident he'd be working 80+ hours/week to bring in around $100k.
