As tuition rates rise at colleges and universities across the country, students are looking to the presidential candidates for solutions as they prepare to cast their vote.

The affordability of higher education will be a key issue for students in the upcoming presidential election, and both President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney have taken different views on the topic as they try to win the student vote.

But the ambiguity in the candidates’ platforms has made tuition rates a less-important factor.

At Syracuse University, great strides are being made in terms of making tuition more affordable, said Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, in an email.

“This year’s (2012-13) tuition increment growth (3.6 percent) is the lowest at SU in 46 years,” he said.

At SU, undergraduate aid will total 204 million dollars for the 2012-13 academic year. This represents a 6-percent increase from last year and a 52-percent increase from 2007-08, when financial aid was only $134 million, Quinn said.

“I would say that SU has always worked to provide the most cost-effective education possible for our students, and we redoubled those efforts during the past several years as the recession impacted students and families,” he said.

On a national scale, though, neither candidate has a solution to fix the tuition rates, said political science professor Jeffrey Stonecash.

“My impression is that no one in America has the slightest idea of what to do about the rising tuition prices,” Stonecash said.

Republicans and Democrats have differing stances in several areas regarding the issue of college affordability. Stonecash said Democrats want to subsidize the interest rate for college loans and provide them directly, so taking out a loan would not create another fee. Republicans, on the other hand, want banks to profit through providing the loans.

“The Republican criticism is: the more we provide loans and grants, the more we provide revenues for administration,” he said.

Part of the problem, he said, is that colleges and universities draw students based on quality rather than tuition. Colleges spend money on dorms and recreation facilities to attract students because their main concern is delivering a quality product, Stonecash said.

Students on campus have differing opinions on which candidate, if either, would help lower tuition rates and make college more affordable.

Alexa Voss, a freshman magazine journalism major, said she thought Romney would be more likely to lower tuition rates.

“I think Romney would because he’s more of a businessman and he understands the importance of spending money and things like that,” she said.

Edwin Chalumeau, a junior information technology major, said tuition rates are high, especially because he didn’t attend an in-state school. But he said this will not be a major factor in his vote.

“I’m leaning towards Obama just for other stuff like health care,” he said.

But college tuition rates are less of an issue than the amount of student debt, said Kristi Andersen, professor of political science. She said the political parties take two very different stances.

To combat student debt, Andersen said, President Obama has supported maintaining and increasing Pell Grants, which are one large way the federal government supports middle- and low-income students attending college.

While Romney hasn’t come out and said he wants to get rid of Pell Grants, various nonpartisan policy institutes have deduced that he will, based on his goals of cutting taxes and increasing defense spending, Andersen said.

President Obama also wants to limit loan repayment to 10 percent of one’s income, which would increase interest in public service occupations, Andersen said.

A second concern for Andersen is the for-profit college industry. She said these types of colleges try to attract military veterans who have government money from the GI Bill by using fancy brochures when the schools don’t have great graduation rates or don’t lead to good jobs.

“Democrats are very dubious about the for-profit colleges,” she said. “The Republicans say ‘No, they’re fine, they don’t need to be regulated.’”

Another point of contention between Democrats and Republicans is the way the president has encouraged colleges to sign on to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, making one-page financial aid disclosures, Andersen said.

This aid disclosure would clearly indicate grants, loans, how to keep the aid and how much college will actually cost for students. Republicans do not think utilizing the bureau, which also reformed credit card bills, is necessary, said Andersen.

The effects of college affordability on students’ actual vote remain to be seen. Several students at SU do not plan to make the cost of college their top priority when heading to the polls.

Nicole St. James, project coordinator at the New York Public Interest Research Group for SU and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said she thinks college tuition rates will have a major effect on student voting.

Generally, the younger voting bloc has specific issues that encourage them to vote. This year, St. James said, tuition rates will likely be one of these key issues for students.

“Definitely tuition is a high priority for students because of the fact that they are students and they’re dealing with this every day,” St. James said.

College affordability was a huge concern in Rachel Viggiano’s college decision. The freshman undeclared major in the College of Arts and Sciences said she would not have been able to attend SU without her scholarships.

But she said she believes there are more important issues that she will take into consideration in the upcoming election.

Said Viggiano: “I think I’m going to be more focused on how (my vote) is going to help our world and a broader aspect of being more unified, rather than focusing on money.”

Published on October 2, 2012 at 3:02 am

Contact Andrew: amfeld01@syr.edu