Disclaimer: the purpose of this article is merely to relay facts found through online research to help readers make a more informed decision, not to voice my own personal opinion on the matter or the candidates.

Student debt is something that affects everyone. This burden loom over the heads of not only current college students, but also many graduates, parents with children, and anyone looking to enroll in college at some point in their future. The deciding factor for someone choosing between two schools should be based on more than how much money it will cost them to be there. Instead, for many students, this is often their sole deciding factor. We need help. Some students and parents are looking towards the 2016 presidential candidates for this help.

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A College Education Should Not Be Free

Why College Students Need To Care About The 2016 Presidential Election

How much do we, the students, know about the candidates in the upcoming election? How much do we know about their platforms? Student loan debt is the most immediate problem faced by our generation; we should know who has our best interest at heart when preparing to cast our 2016 ballots.

Through surveying students here at my college, the College of Charleston in South Carolina, I have narrowed the candidates down to three per party, based on who people wanted to learn about. Additionally, much of my research came from watching debates, reading personal statements, and reading www.marketwatch.com, "a financial information website that provides business news, analysis, and stock market data."

For the Democratic Party:

Hillary Clinton

Clinton's plan includes having the federal government provide grants to states that offer free tuition at 2-year community colleges, and the opportunity to attend a 4-year public university without taking on loans. Clinton hopes to make higher education more desirable for families of all incomes. She would make it so that current borrowers could better manage their loans by refinancing at lower interest rates. To do so, she plans to fund using tax deductions on high-income families.

Martin O'Malley

O'Malley supports a debt-free college within five years. In order to obtain this goal, he would plan to increase grants for low-income families, freeze tuition rates at public universities, and allow borrowers to refinance their loans. Freezing public university tuition has caught the positive attention of a lot of Americans. How much the plan would cost depends largely on the state and how much state funding currently exists for higher education. One concept he has pitched for how to fun his no-debt college plan is raising taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas. Some argue saying this will only make these kinds of jobs undesirable and create a new issue all together.

Bernie Sanders

Sanders has taken it one step further with a tuition-free plan. Some say his plan is more progressive than debt-free college, because grants and scholarships only cover tuition, and low-income students often take out loans just to afford living expenses so they are still struggling with debt. This system would be modeled after the higher education systems in many European countries. However, these European universities often lack the amenities that American students have grown accustomed to. Sanders believes his plan will strengthen the economy by allowing more students to go to college and graduate ready to work.

For the Republican Party:

Jeb Bush

Bush fell victim to student loan debt himself, and is often seen as the "education candidate" for the Republicans. He plans on decreasing university costs while simultaneously increasing the value of a degree. Not only would reforming higher education strengthen our economy, but having more people get jobs right out of college because they have a degree, would make attending college much more desirable for students.

Rand Paul

Paul proposes a tax-free college education. His plan would "let college students deduct the entire cost of their educations over their working careers." In other words, he wants to make college tuition entirely deductible. The government already offers some tax deductions for students, but it is capped at $2,500 and is only available to families earning $160,000 or less a year. Paul has not expanded on his idea in terms of whether or not it would also have an income cap.

And last but certainly not least, Donald Trump

Trump doesn't seems to have any specific plan as of now for tackling growing student debt. However, in a recent article in the Hill newspaper he states, "That’s probably one of the only things the government shouldn’t make money off -- I think it’s terrible that one of the only profit centers we have is student loans.”

So there you have it -- a concise run down of three candidates from each party. The point is not to sway you one way or another. The point is to educate you so that you can make the most informed decision for yourself. It is also to encourage you to vote, because this decision affects more than just our futures; it affects us now.