[Editor’s note: This is the third story in a biweekly series highlighting the impact of the presidential election on college students.]

The housing crisis, the diminishing value of the American dollar, soaring gas prices and now the most recent economic setback, the government’s multibillion dollar corporate buyout, which taxpayers are expected to bear the brunt of for years to come.

All of these issues surround a struggling economy that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) must attempt to resolve immediately after taking office in January.

While both candidates will try to convince voters of their economic prowess on the campaign trail, what much of the presidential candidates’ jargon fails to capture is the degree of influence the economic status will have on current student voters in their most trying years of post-college, early professional life.

With Nov. 4 looming, the choice of placing a man in office to dictate policy potentially affecting students for up to the next eight years may seem academic to some, but students will graduate to a world in which either Obama or McCain plays a major role in shaping the economy.

While the housing market crunch that has plagued the nation the past year is predicted by some experts to now have a brighter outlook for potential first-time home buyers, the job market still looks bleak.

Peter Levine, who studies the political motivations of young people as the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, a title he used to have at this university, said it is the young demographic who may have the most to lose as a result of the economic disaster.

“Unemployment is really concentrated with young people, so it really is a youth issue,” Levine said. “Candidates tend to not talk about it that way; they talk about it in a neutral way.”

With unemployment already hurting young Americans, this month’s financial fallout only stands to hurt this year’s upperclassmen even more as they enter the workforce in the next several years.

“It’s pretty clear that the seniors this year are going to have a tough job market,” finance professor Albert Kyle said. “And I would suspect that the juniors next year are going to have a tough job market, because the economy is going to be in something resembling a recession.”

Assuming that college graduates can find a job, next comes the responsibility of paying taxes, an issue that looms large regardless of who becomes president. Similar to the job market, the news for taxpayers in light of this month’s financial collapse is not promising, according to government and politics professor Paul Herrnson.

“Students should be advised that this catastrophe, which was caused by just following the mantra of deregulation, is going to be with them for a long time,” Herrnson said. “They will be the ones paying this debt off when they pay their taxes.”

Political economy professor Gar Alperovitz believes Obama’s proposed tax increases for the wealthiest Americans will benefit the overall economy, allowing for more spending on other ventures that will benefit students, but Kyle is less optimistic that either candidate can truly distinguish one set of tax policies as superior.

“Neither McCain nor Obama seems like they will increase taxes on the bottom 95 percent of the population, and they’re only arguing about a few percentage points on the top five percent of the population,” Kyle said. “Changing taxes plus or minus a couple of percentage points doesn’t make much difference.”

Looking into the future to determine how this issue will play out is taking a backseat to the more pressing concern of discerning which candidate has the economic platform more likely to limit the negative consequences of the economic crisis.

Obama’s plan to retool the economy includes a proposal to tax oil companies to provide a $1,000 rebate to all families, spending $50 billion to prevent a million job losses and tax cuts to benefit the middle class.

McCain’s proposal calls for keeping tax rates low on large and small businesses, constructing nuclear power plants to provide a new source of energy and create jobs and eliminating government earmarking and wasteful spending.

The same experts who pontificate about the certainty of doom in this country’s economic future are at a loss for words when attempting to distinguish the candidates’ ability to lay out a plan for improving the economy.

“I follow the election very closely, but I don’t quite understand what either of the candidates is proposing on the economy,” Kyle said.

Even a professor with a more intimate understanding of the political arena can’t provide a more definitive statement.

“Will either of [the candidates] be able to say anything terribly revealing [about the economy]?” government and politics professor Stephen Elkin asked rhetorically. “And the answer, I think, is no. Neither of them wants to say anything terribly specific, if they can help it.”

Watching debates and speeches may not provide clear solutions, but there are other means to differentiate between Obama’s and McCain’s economic stances.

“By and large, the thing to do is look at the record more than what they say,” Alperovitz suggested.

Alperovitz finds Obama’s proposals more likely to improve the economy, but McCain’s policy of a free-market economy is more appealing to others, including sophomore government and politics major Nicholas Cravotta.

“Obviously, I want more jobs and I want to graduate in an economy that is more stable, but as a Republican, I don’t change my beliefs of a free-market economy,” said Cravotta, who is secretary of the College Republicans. “I think that a free-market economy that John McCain is supporting will lead to a more stable, more prosperous, job-creating economy.”

Senior physics major and Democrat Andrew Grossman said he believes Obama is taking the more level-headed approach to solving the economy thus far, but he is not expecting either candidate to say anything that will guarantee a prosperous economy in years to come.

“I’m voting based on the type of person that they are, the type of experiences that they’ve had and their philosophy on things,” Grossman said.

Grossman acknowledged the importance of his future job security, but still vowed not to make the candidates’ specific economic policy proposals the basis of his voting decision, a mindset Levine can understand.

“I think the economy at one level is very hard to understand, very technical,” Levine said. “There’s an element where maybe that will be harder for younger people.”

Kyle echoed Levine.

“It’s going to be hard for students to make up their mind,” Kyle said. “I don’t think that the candidates’ economic proposals offer much choice to the students.”

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