Congress is one vote away from approving a budget that would deal a devastating blow to those of us who weren’t lucky enough to be born into families that can afford $40,000 a year for tuition. Tomorrow, U.S. legislators are scheduled to vote on a $12.7 billion cut to higher education loans, which would make college out of reach for many qualified children. This is the largest cut in the history of federal student loans.

For many Americans, loans are the only way to afford a college education. Undergraduates typically leave with around $18,000 in loans, while graduate students typically leave with approximately $32,000. Total student loans taken out in the last decade have grown over 100 percent.

Under the proposed bill, 70 percent of the savings would come directly out of the pockets of students and their families through interest rate hikes. Interest rates on Stafford loans and PLUS loans would be increased by about 25 percent of the current rate. The maximum amount for Pell grants was held constant for the fourth year in a row, despite the double-digit percent increases in tuition across the country, adding insult to injury to the 5.3 million students that depend on these grants.

Every year, 200,000 high school students in America forego college for financial reasons. Squeezing students out of college will hurt our international competitiveness, slow our economy and increase dependence on public support programs from people who can’t find jobs in a knowledge-based economy without a college education.

If we wanted to reduce the deficit, stopping the Pease provision tax cut and the personal exemption phase-out — 97 percent of which are for people making over $200,000 a year — would be a great place to start. Telling poor kids they can’t go to college anymore is the wrong priority for America. We shouldn’t have to be lucky to be able to afford a college education.

Kai Stinchcombe (kstinch@stanford.edu) is an on-leave Ph.D. student in political science and was president of the Stanford Democrats in 2004. For nonpartisan facts on the cuts to student aid, visit the United States Student Association at usstudents.org.