Never before has a college degree been more essential to an individual's prosperity in the United States. Nor have colleges ever been asked to play a more crucial part in preparing citizens for a global economy. Yet finding a way to erase persisting inequities in who earns a college degree has proved difficult. With a new generation that is more financially needy and more diverse knocking on colleges' doors, access to higher education will be an important issue in 2008 presidential race. The candidates have offered broad proposals that are meant to appeal to middle-income and working-class voters of all races who are worried about rising tuition prices as they struggle to make ends meet. Many of the Democratic candidates have proposed programs to broaden access and improve the academic preparation of low-income students. Meanwhile, the national debate over immigration has prompted a different discussion about college opportunity, particularly among Republican candidates. They differ over how much public aid to provide high-school graduates who are illegal immigrants and want to attend college. In this article, the author describes individual candidates' views on these issues.