The price of college continues to surge, and financial aid isn't keeping up. The Wall Street meltdown has hammered the stock market and college savings. And a college degree is ever more essential for finding a good job.

No wonder polls show voters want to know what, if anything, the two presidential candidates would do to make college more affordable.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have offered similar campaign pronouncements: A college education should be affordable to anyone, and the process of getting federal aid is more complicated than it should be.

But there are differences in how each would tackle the problem.

Obama's proposals are more detailed and more expensive. They reflect an assumption that government should do more to help students pay for college.

McCain's proposals are more general and emphasize streamlining the aid system improving but not necessarily expanding it. He calls for making more information available to parents and eliminating wasteful spending on pork-barrel university research projects.

Both candidates pledge to simplify financial aid.

A look at their proposals in some key areas:

NEW AID PROGRAMS

The most sweeping proposal by either candidate is Obama's call to provide most students with up to $4,000 a year in tax credits for college, in return for 100 hours of community service.

The Obama campaign says the plan would make two major improvements over the programs that it would replace the HOPE and Lifetime Learning tax credits, which provide at most $2,000 annually.

First, it would be fully refundable, so low-income families who don't pay enough in taxes to benefit from the full tax credit could still get $4,000. Second, aid would be awarded based on prior-year tax data, so families wouldn't have to fill out lengthy federal aid forms and face a long wait to find out how much aid they can get.