Student loan interest rates double. Congress takes vacation.

Working Americans with dreams of attending college themselves or sending their children there are now being saddled with additional costs due to congressional inaction. Overnight the student loan rate doubled to 6.8 percent, meaning the average college student will pay an additional $2,600 for their education, according to Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

Higher education, already out of reach for many, just became more so. And why? Because lawmakers cannot come to a consensus on a policy. Instead they just let the interest rates on new federal Stafford loans go up. The federal government should not be balancing the budget on the backs of the nation's future generations.

The potential damage that could come from the higher lending rate is staggering, according to experts. Ted Beck, president and chief executive officer of the National Endowment for Financial Education, said a lifetime of student loan debt could become the new American normal if changes aren't made:

You could have generations that never get in the economic mainstream. If you never get into the whole U.S. economic system because you've been held back by too much debt ... we could have a lot of people who just never really come anywhere near their potential.

The same USA Today article details how there could also be a trickle-down effect on the entire economy caused by higher loan rates. More and more, those who do go to college will have to put off home ownership, contributing to their retirement or qualifying for such things as car and small business loans.

James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said it best when he explained in a recent column how higher student loan rates would hurt working- and middle-class families:

Higher education has long been the stepping stone to a better life.  But that stone is being swept away by a tide of student debt.

Thankfully, Congress can still take action to minimize the damage. Senate Democrats are likely to bring to the floor a measure next week that would roll back the increase and extend the former 3.4 percent loan rate another year. But the longer-term answer is to comprehensively revamp the system, something Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is advocating.

Whatever the solution, Capitol Hill shouldn't jeopardize the future by punishing today's students.

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Monday, July 1, 2013