Voters and presidential candidates are debating many issues this election cycle, but while candidates are offering higher-education policy proposals, most voters are focusing their attention elsewhere.
According to a nationwide survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education and Gallup, issues in higher-education came least-important out of nine issues which Americans were asked to rank.
When asked which of the three major presidential candidates still in the race would do the most to help families afford college, 32 percent favored Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), while 19 percent answered Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Ten percent went with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and 29 percent said they did not know.
However, Obama and Clinton - currently the focus of the campaign because the Democratic nominee has yet to be decided - have very similar proposals, including proposed increases in Pell grants and educational tax credits, which target low-income college students, and simplified financial-aid application processes.
Both also "want to do away with federal subsidies for private loans," Bill Andresen, the head of Penn's Washington office, said.
"My sense [for both Democratic candidates] is that their priorities would be to increase access and increase student aid," he added.
McCain has not released a detailed policy report on higher education, and his campaign did not return repeated requests for information.
Access to higher education has been implicitly categorized as an "American right" by the Democratic candidates, according to St. Joseph's University history professor and political analyst Randall Miller.
But Miller added that in the current economic climate, it's typically folded into larger questions about families' finances, such as home mortgages and credit.
Higher education "is really part of the package, but nobody has pulled it out of the pack," Miller added, noting that Clinton has centerpieced higher-education access the most of any candidate.
For Penn, which interacts regularly with Congress and governmental agencies for funding initiatives, the election of a new president won't lead to major changes on its own, Andresen said.
"With a new president there's going to be a new Secretary of Education," who may have different priorities, he said, adding that his office's lobbying efforts likely will not be affected.
And at the University, students are more likely to focus on other issues, such as the war in Iraq and the general state of the economy.
For students on financial aid, "I'm sure it's an issue," said College junior Brett McCurdy. But because of the pressing nature of the economy and foreign policy, "everything else, I feel, is secondary."
