Candidates for president are under intense pressure to respond to public concerns about college affordability and increasing student debt. In this paper, we review policy ideas that are likely to receive significant attention during the campaign. We raise relevant questions, supply data that elucidate the potential costs and benefits of alternative approaches, and suggest analytical perspectives that can inform judgments about the best approaches for changing both the perceptions and the realities of barriers to college affordability. In each area, we identify and discuss the important policy parameters that should be used to judge the strengths and weaknesses of specific proposals.