San Antonio Express

The budget plans of both Senators McCain and Obama would increase rather than decrease future deficits. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget analyzed the impact these policies would have at the end of the next president's first term in our Voter Guide, “Promises Promises: A Fiscal Voter Guide to the 2008 Election.” LINK

MaryEllen McGuire, director of education policy program at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, said both platforms are fairly general, but Obama offers more details and more specific spending proposals.

“I really feel it mirrors where they are on K-12,” McGuire said. “Obama invests in the public system; McCain is about influencing it from the outside.” LINK

...In addition to financial aid, the law will also dole out matching grants aimed at boosting the number of first-generation and low-income college students, and will give $510 million to Hispanic, black and other minority-serving institutions.

Overall, the measures will relieve some pressure on students and families — but not too much, said Jason Delisle, an education researcher at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.