The Oct. 2 federal election debate at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) was a chance for Mississauga—Erin Mills candidates to outline their platforms and woo voters.

Each candidate brought up post-secondary education and their party’s plan to make it more affordable. Here’s what they said:

NDP candidate Salman Tariq came out swinging, scolding the Liberals for allowing interest charges on student debt. He said that NDP would eliminate interest on student loans.

He pledged that the NDP would make more grants for students and said the party believes "that (students) are the future of Canada and you are the people who should be invested in and incentivized."

Liberal candidate Iqra Khalid said her party would help students with affordability by decreasing the cost of cellphone bills by 25 per cent and boosting student grants so they would total $4,200 a year, up from $3,000 currently.

Khalid also pledged that the Liberals would increase the income threshold for when students would have to begin to pay back their student loans, from $25,000 to $35,000.

She said the Liberals' measures for students were about "plugging the holes where the province should have been providing that support."

Green candidate Remo Boscarino-Gaetano said that his party would forgive all student debt if elected.

He said instead of "Band-Aids" on the issue of post-secondary affordability, the Green party would make tuition free for all students across Canada, "so we're no longer at the whim of provincial governments and whether they decide to fund OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) or not."

People’s Party of Canada candidate Hazar Alsabagh wasn't specific on how her party’s platform would address post-secondary education, but said plans to stop “corporate bailouts” and end Canada’s supply management system would help increase the number of jobs available for students.