In a nation where the only way to secure a steady career is through a college degree (and even then, nothing is guaranteed), the U.S. government has somehow managed to take another stride in the wrong direction, making the process of getting a college degree more difficult yet

Beginning July 1, interest rates on subsidized Stafford Loans are set to double, and the current six-month grace period that makes it so the holder does not have to pay interest on the loan – that’s getting axed, too.

Politicians on both sides are using the issue to leverage youth votes in what is guaranteed to be the most contentious election year yet, but students’ financial well-being is coming at the cost of political agendas. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are playing political chicken, daring each other to either cut precious programs or be the party responsible for the rise in interest rates, but it’s the economy that will ultimately pay the price.

No matter what school of economics you subscribe to, everybody agrees that pumping money into the economy is necessary to thrive, but slamming students with large bills the instant they graduate from school — regardless of whether they can find a job or not — isn’t going to stimulate anything, besides growing resentment. The White House reported that the increase would cost students an additional $1,000 in loan debt while the Federal Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit put outstanding student loan balance at $870 billion. To add insult to injury, that number is expected to exceed $1 trillion this year.

And although lawmakers made strides in 2007 with the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which decreased interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans through 2011, this just seems like backtracking.

With more than 7 million undergrads relying on federally subsidized loans to pay for college each year, it goes without saying that the largest problem facing our current collegiate generation is the increasingly insurmountable student loan debt that many grads find themselves drowning in post-graduation.

With such a bleak picture on the horizon for undergrads, these counter-productive measures are only going to steer more high school graduates away from the traditional four-year degree, which loses its value with each new crisis carried on the backs of middle class hopefuls and their families.