Increases in inflation, as young take on politicians before university (5,2)

'increases in inflation' is the definition.
(to pump something up is to inflate it)

'young take on politicians before university' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'politicians' could be 'mps' (Members of Parliament) and 'mps' is present in the answer.
'university' could be 'u' (abbreviation for university) and 'u' is present in the answer.
'young' could be 'pup' (pup is a kind of young) and 'pup' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?