Although the mass of the nation's voters want an improved higher education system, their presidential candidates know the issue's political boundaries -- money, money, money.

"Candidates don't want to touch the issue," said Michael Young, associate director of Harrisburg's Center for Survey Research. "Higher education has the potential to turn into a priority issue if attention turns away from the economy."

The majority of the electorate is not swayed by higher education because it is not central to them, said Simon Duke, assistant professor of political science.

"The candidates focus on more populist issues like the economy and inner cities -- the issues that will get voters out," Duke said.

People should care about higher education because it is the way of opportunity, said Robert O'Connor, associate professor of political science.

"Through education, Americans can succeed and advance beyond their parents in terms of money and opportunities from education," O'Connor said.

Despite the passion tuition-paying parents feel about the issue, they do not make up the mass, O'Connor said.

Voters, when not worrying about the economy, turn to candidates' character, O'Connor said.

"Higher education is playing a little role in the primaries," O'Connor said.

It will take the general election to make voters turn to the issues and away from personality, said Zachary Irwin, associate professor of political science at Penn State Erie.

But even then, higher education will probably be neglected, Irwin said.

"When people speak about education, a popular association is taxes," Irwin said. "Spending on education is seen as something that will increase the deficit."

The issue is colored by increasing costs and decreasing governmental support, Young agreed.

Vernon Aspaturian, Evan Pugh Professor of political science, said higher education is the most confusing issue.

"The views are so ambiguous and evasive," Aspaturian said. "It's hard for the candidates to find initiatives to improve the education system."

Students seem to care less about education than they did 20 years ago, he said.

"American institutions have been forced to focus on longer learning rather than higher learning," Aspaturian said. "Penn State is full of students like that. Students are the least serious that I've had in a long time."

The problems may lay not only in higher education system itself, but also in the government's involvement.

"There's a lot of concern that the working class people are being frozen out of higher education opportunities," O'Connor said. "There's also concern that schools are not preparing people for the workplace of the 21st century."

Because universities lowered their standards to increase enrollment, the educational system has been a prime target for ridicule, Aspaturian said.

The Bush administration will be the first target of strict evaluation, O'Connor added.

"Those who favor Bush will say that he lived up to the title of the 'education president' -- the others will say that Bush was a cruel joke and he just hasn't put his money where his mouth is," O'Connor said.

Regardless of the point of view, candidates who speak to higher education sincerely will ground the attention of students, Young said.

Although students are numerous and are directly affected by higher education decisions, they are a small part of the electorate, Duke said.

"Republicans and Democrats could do themselves a service if they would go after the student vote," Duke said.

But because students are mostly conservative, they are more likely to vote Republican, he added.

"If the Democrats campaign hard for higher education, they could get more votes," Duke said, adding that presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown are aware of that and have both been to universities.

Presidential candidates might be aware that they are beating a dead horse trying to get students to vote, Duke said.

"Campuses are dead -- compared to the late '60s and '70s, there is little political activism," he said.