hanks to proposals from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for tuition- and debt-free higher education, college affordability has become one of the flashpoint issues of this electoral season. But the presidential candidates’ plans focus almost exclusively on ways to subsidize education costs. Rarely do the two parties ever discuss ways to slow or reverse the quickly rising tuition prices and other fees for students entering the higher education system.

There’s an enormous literature exploring the various factors driving the rise of college prices. Over the past couple of decades, the cost of going to college has increased at 2.5 times the rate of inflation, rising from about $9,620 to $21,000 for the average college student over the past 30 years.

What strategies should the next president propose to keep colleges and universities from increasing the costs of attendance? Is this a worthy goal?