Last year, Congress and President Obama came together in rare bipartisan agreement to pass terrible legislation that reduced federal student loan interest rates. Why terrible? Because the reduction in interest rates was only temporary. It was a short-term political fix paid for by future college students, who would be hit with higher rates.

Starting last month (July of 2014), interest rates are going up across the board for federal student loan borrowers, as we all knew they would. Here are the changes:

Undergrad Stafford Loans

Interest Rate for 2013: 3.86%
Interest Rate for 2014: 4.66%

Graduate Unsubsidized Loans

Interest Rate for 2013: 5.41%
Interest Rate for 2014: 6.21%

Parent and Graduate PLUS Loans

Interest Rate for 2013: 6.41%
Interest Rate for 2014: 7.21%

This translates into real, measurable costs for students. For a $20,000 federal student loan, the higher interest rates will cost an additional $160 per year for all students. This may not sound like much, but on the same loan, an undergraduate borrower is already accruing nearly $800 per year in interest, and a graduate borrower is accruing upwards of $1,200 per year in interest. Compounded over years of in-school deferment and many years of repayment, these seemingly small increases in borrowing costs add up over time.

Furthermore, these are the first of what will almost certainly be many additional increases in federal student loan interest rates in the coming years. At a time when there is widespread agreement that the cost of higher education and accompanying student loan debt burdens are becoming unreasonable and unsustainable, why are we charging our students even more money?