To me, just standing in line at the Apple Store in Briarwood Mall on the day after Thanksgiving is a pretty big sacrifice for an iPod touch. To 20 percent of New York University students, though, the even right to vote in the next presidential election is a reasonable sacrifice for the coveted innovation.

According to a recent survey conducted by a NYU journalism class, that's exactly the price for which many students would sell their right to vote. The same study found that half of those polled would forfeit that right forever for $1 million. Perhaps the most telling statistic, though, is the two-thirds of students who would give up their "somewhat important" to "very important" right to vote in next year's landmark election for a free ride to NYU - a prestigious school that charges about $35,000 a year in tuition.

Hell, I'd give up my vote for that.

It costs a lot to go to college, and those costs are only growing. Even at public universities like our own, students suffer the realities of greedy textbook manufacturers, high property costs and irresponsible legislators - harsh consequences that schools can't, or won't, absorb. Meanwhile, the necessity of higher education to a successful career is more apparent as graduate school becomes what college was for past generations. With the rich only getting richer off this structural flaw in our education system, this is Robin Hood's cue.

A favorite for this role among young voters is Barack Obama, yet he fails to offer an inspired solution to the problem. Obama boasts an unsuccessful attempt to raise the maximum Pell Grant by almost $1,000 as a senator, and now he proposes a vague plan to eliminate subsidies to private lenders in favor of federal loan programs. In a speech to the College Democrats of America last July, he spent more time talking about the war in Iraq than about rising college costs, offering little more than broad opposition to expensive loans and debt. For a candidate who generates so much enthusiasm among college students, his stance on the affordability of higher education is surprisingly unremarkable.

A poll conducted in June by CBS News, The New York Times and MTV placed Rudy Giuliani ahead of the other Republican candidates in terms of enthusiasm among 17- to 29-year-olds. However, when he was asked at the University of Northern Iowa a couple weeks ago what he would say to young people who feel politically disillusioned, Giuliani squandered his perfect opportunity to comment on issues important to us. Instead, he clapped his hands and told young people to "wake up," lecturing that we have so many opportunities in America: "You get a chance to vote," he noted. "And if you pass it up, it's your fault."

Clearly, saying that you want to make college more affordable is a great sound byte, but what are we supposed to do when no one actually fits in Robin Hood's tights? As proven by Giuliani's lecture, these candidates see our age group as a source of free enthusiasm. They take our support for granted without caring enough to make issues like higher education costs a priority. Then they blame us for not turning out to vote in droves. According to one respondent to NYU's survey, "At the moment, no candidate who truly represents my political beliefs has a chance of winning a presidential election." Why vote when even those who we deem frontrunners won't give us an incentive to vote for them?

Surprisingly, 70.5 percent of the NYU students surveyed noted that they believe their individual votes can make a difference in elections. In fact, this was true of 70 percent of students who said they would sacrifice their vote next year for a free education. This is not apathy, as cynics like Giuliani would have you believe; it's just easier for them to take a cheap shot at young people by saying that it is.

Maybe it comes down not just to apathy or disillusionment as many have speculated but to self-sufficiency. If presidential candidates who have been practically handed the support of our generation can't be bothered to discuss our issues and offer serious solutions, then I wouldn't hesitate to remedy the tuition issue for myself, if given the chance.

But then again, I can't speak for those who would rather have an iPod touch.

Emmarie Huetteman is an associate editorial page editor. She can be reached at huetteme@umich.edu.