Bangalore: The spiraling inflation has diminished the spirit of the commoners whose sheer desires are fulfilled through loans. RBI has not only increased the interest rates of home and auto loans but also has infused a set of miseries in the life of a middle class. It is more than 12 times than RBI has been introducing hikes in the interest rates. This has shattered the plans of purchasing a house through home loan. But something that came as a blow to the people was the educational loans getting dreadful with interest rates increasing. Education loans sanctioned in India is expensive when compared to the banks in the U.S. Nearly four million graduates and students face a large hike in interest charges on their student loans since inflation is in talk. When one plans to avail an education loan leading banks like SBI, ICICI bank and other private sector banks is what they will consider. Until last year, the interest rate on education loan was 12.5 percent on upto 7.5 lakh but the recent hike has made it 14.25 percent. The interest rate on an education loan depends on whether you are studying in India or abroad, the course that you are applying for, your loan amount and the tenure. Such a tremendous hike indicates that for students on low incomes their debt will continue to spiral even when they start earning. The down payment ranges from 5 percent to 20 percent which differs from bank to bank. And most of the banks have a loan repayment tenure that is generally 7 years. This puts the students on a hunt high paying jobs on the completion of the course so that they can pay off the or be given the option of longer tenure to repay the loans plus students are expected to start repaying six months after completing the course. These are really challenging times for those on low incomes, especially when their payments do not even service the interest on their loans and their total debt is growing. College affordability is going to get tougher as the time passes by.