Two undergraduates, two years apart at Yale University, have become two presidential candidates with two different visions for higher education in the United States.

President George W. Bush, Yale class of 1968, and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, Yale class of 1966, both seek to make post-secondary education accessible to more Americans. But the candidates' views on higher education were shaped by Yale, where their different undergraduate experiences overlapped for two years.

BUSH: THE LEGACY

It was after Bush began his 2000 bid for the presidency that his undergraduate career attracted attention, said Robert Chung, chairman of Yale University Students for Bush.

But this wasn't the first time Yale students had become acquainted with the Bush family. The four-generation Bush legacy is all over Yale's New Haven, Conn., campus -- a portrait of former President George H.W. Bush hangs in the commons dining area for freshmen.

The current president participated in a range of extracurricular activities at Yale -- from playing on sports teams to serving as president of his fraternity during his junior year.

"He was part of a rather prominent frat, Delta Kappa Epsilon," Chung said. "They party a lot. They still do."

Chung notes that despite his reputation for having an active social life, Bush did his work at Yale before applying to Harvard Business School, Chung said.

"He didn't just party all day," Chung added. "He did get his job and his work done."

Since winning the presidency and a return visit as the 2001 Commencement speaker, Bush has created a legacy of his own.

"Bush's legacy had more warmth, fuzzy feeling to it (compared to John Kerry's)," Chung said. "You could sit down and have a beer with him."

KERRY: The SHY Guy

"John would probably be in and out of the room about eight times," one of Kerry's college roommates, Harvey Bundy III, recalls. "(He was) always racing from one activity to another and he was always 10 minutes late. Trying to get John to be on time was virtually impossible."

Kerry had a subdued undergraduate social life. After a series of girlfriends during his sophomore and junior years, Kerry met his first wife, Julia Thorne, during his senior year.

"He wasn't afraid to go to Morey's (Temple Bar) and get a drink with us," Bundy said. "But I wouldn't call him a social butterfly."

Bundy, now a principal at an investment banking firm in Chicago, recalls meeting Kerry his freshman year when President John F. Kennedy came to Yale for a rally.

"I was heckling Kennedy," Bundy recalls. "Kennedy was John's idol and John came over to make me shut up. If (Kerry's freshman year roommate, Dan Barbiero) wasn't there with me, I think John might have shut me up in physical way. "

Kerry was president of the Political Union, Yale's debate society, and played sports during all three seasons at Yale. But Bundy also recalls Kerry was drawn to public service.

"John always felt he was going to serve. How he was going to serve was not clear, but he probably always had a vision of going into government," Bundy said. "We would sit around the room speculating which positions we would have in John's cabinet."

NU access

Both candidates -- sons of privilege who had little trouble completing college after private prep schools -- propose making college more affordable. Bush wants to increase funding for Pell Grants to 47 percent more than in 2001. The maximum Pell Grant currently is $4,050.

Associate Provost for University Enrollment Rebecca Dixon said increasing individual Pell Grants might help NU students pay for their education.

"What would be more helpful is if they increase the amount of Pell Grant," Dixon said. "But it doesn't have nearly the amount of buying power as it did when (the program) was initiated."

Bush also would offer "Enhanced Pell Grants" with $1,000 in additional funding for low-income students, according to Bush's re-election campaign Web site.

Kerry supports a college tuition tax credit with eligibility for "advanced payment." The tax credit will be refundable for "our most economically vulnerable students," according to the campaign's Web site. The plan would work well for low-income families but might not apply to the many middle-class families who send their children to NU, Dixon said.

"The value of it would lie in the threshold of eligibility," Dixon said. "It very much would depend for Northwestern what the threshold would be."

PLATFORMS V. REALITY

Many of the candidates' programs for higher education won't make a big difference for students at NU because the school is private and expensive.

For example, Bush plans to expand AmeriCorps to 75,000 members with a $4,725 education award for full-time students. But the financial reward only would dent tuitions at private institutions such as NU, Dixon said.

"I think the amount of funding that one gets from AmeriCorps doesn't go a long way towards the cost of higher education," Dixon said. "While I think it may be a worthy program, I don't think it's going to be especially helpful for students attending higher education institutions like Northwestern."

Kerry would expand GEAR UP, a program which pairs college mentors with students in high-poverty schools to help them apply for college and financial aid. But NU does not participate in GEAR UP, Dixon said.

From a public policy viewpoint, some administrators are not looking for higher education policies in the candidate platforms.

"From experience, the platforms rarely become concrete public policy," said Bruce Layton, a special assistant for government relations to University President Henry Bienen.

Instead, NU administrators focus on the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act, expected to take place in 2005.

"Were looking for (the re-authorization of the higher education act) to be done next," Layton said. "The propositions surrounding the act in congress are the proposals we'll look closely at."

"This (re-authorization process) would have gone on even if we didn't have a presidential election," Dixon said. "That's where our focus has been as opposed to what Bush (would) do or what Kerry would do."