This issue is incredibly close to not only the hearts of every loan-stricken student at Michigan State University, but all of them in the United States. Being stuck in debt is the fear of every one in an erratic economy.

And this increase just adds on to the fear that low- to middle-class students will be stuck in debt even longer than they might have to be.

And if this increase stays, it will be especially hard on the incoming freshmen, who would be stuck with the student loan rate longer than anyone else.

What Congress needs to stop doing is acting like it can relate to the difficulties students are going through today, as many of the representatives did not grow up in the economy students today are. So saying anything on the lines of “I’ve been there too” is not all reassuring.

It also needs to let go of a possible plan to put a cap on student loan rates. The circumstances of today are not going to be the same in the future and a future rate increase might be needed.

The economy still is in rough shape with a multitrillion dollar deficit and congressional members are putting on a fight to not raise taxes. So this loan-rate increase, however high it might be, will help alleviate some burden of the deficit.

So if Congress could put the childlike bickering to an end, maybe it can come up with something new so students don’t have to take the extreme hit they are now.

What students should do now is study up on what is exactly going on and what your representative in Congress is doing and see if they’re actually representing what you believe in and stand for.

There are representatives who ran on the “students are the future” and “education is important” platform, and they might all keep their promises. And if students are really the future, then Congress wouldn’t be putting them in this spot in the first place.

Because come the midterm elections in November, the student loan interest rates might not be the only thing that drastically changes this year.