Student debt in New York averaged $32,200 last year, double what it was a decade ago, a DiNapoli report last month found.
Hoffmeier, an enrolled Democrat, said she might vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein or write in Sanders' name.
"It's really unfair that we've been left with these two (Clinton and Trump)," she said. "A lot of young people have had their hearts broken."
Targeting NY
New York has twice as many Democrats as Republicans, and it would be a major upset if Trump can win the state. Ronald Reagan in 1984 was the last GOP nominee to do so.
Trump has made Clinton's record as senator from 2001 through 2009 a campaign issue not only in New York, but nationally.
He cruised in New York during the GOP primary in April, helping him secure the party's nomination. Clinton won the New York primary, beating Sanders 58 percent to 42 percent.
In late September, Trump knocked Clinton in a speech in Melbourne, Florida, about her pledge of 200,000 jobs for upstate New York when she first ran for the Senate in 2000. The goal was never met, and Clinton blamed the recession and Republican politics for the failed pledge.
Trump has seized on it.
"She promised, running for the Senate years ago, 200,000 jobs for upstate New York. It was a disaster," he said. "Not only didn't they come, but they lost so many jobs that you have to see it now. It's so sad when you see what's happened to upstate New York. It's a disaster."
Victor Berger, 77, of New City, charged that Clinton is part of a corrupt pay-as-you-go political system, and he supports Trump's policies, such as cutting corporate taxes and strengthening the military.
On Trump, he added, "I agree with his ideas on immigration, on checking people when they come into the country to make sure they're eligible to come in."
Sam Beckenhauer doesn't believe that Clinton is the perfect presidential candidate, but thinks she will be flexible if she's elected.
"She's not immune to pressure from her constituents, so I think she will ultimately make decisions and create policies based on that pressure," said the Vassar College student and co-president of Democracy Matters on the Poughkeepsie campus.
Issues to watch
According to the Siena poll of 600 likely voters, a plurality of New Yorkers said jobs and the economy were the top issues for the next president, followed by national security.
The cities of Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo have among the worst poverty rates in the nation.
Sheryl Fuhrmann, 62, of Piermont, said she's more comfortable with Clinton because of her foreign-policy experience as secretary of state and as senator.
"I think she can bring to the table that experience that Donald Trump lacks," said Fuhrmann, who added that Trump's plan to build a wall with Mexico "isn't the way the United States is."
The poll showed voters were evenly split between continuing the policies of President Obama or making changes.
For 24-year-old Democrat Monique Stone of Rochester, voting in presidential elections has been a matter of breaking down barriers.
In 2012, she cast her first presidential vote for Obama as the nation's first black president. And this year, she intends to vote for Clinton as the first female president.
"As a woman, that's very important to me," she said. "I hope she can represent all the women in the country and really work on issues that are important to us."
As a criminal-justice student at Monroe Community College, she's also concerned about the relationship between police and minorities.
"Criminal justice, it's really messed up, especially for the black men out here," she said. "It's a hard time for families."
Suhailah Morgan, 36, of Binghamton, is a former Sanders supporter, and she's now "softly supporting" Clinton. She's unsure, though, heading into the final presidential debates.
"It wasn't so much Donald Trump's performance that made me change, it was that she finally seemed like she connected with the American public in a way that she wasn't being so-called politically correct," Morgan said.
Then there are new voters.
Molly Hawley recently turned 18 and still has to register to vote. The deadline is Oct. 14.
Hawley said she might vote for Clinton, but is still weighing her options, saying equal rights for women is one of her top priorities.
"I just started thinking about this," Hawley said.
Includes reporting by Poughkeepsie Journal staff writers Geoffrey Wilson and Abbott Brant; Democrat and Chronicle staff writers Todd Clausen and Sarah Taddeo; Journal News staff writer Lee Higgins; and Press & Sun-Bulletin staff writer Maggie Gilroy.
How New Yorkers feel in 2016
The USA Today Network in New York asked voters across the state who they were supporting in the presidential election and what are the key issues for them heading into the voting booth Nov. 8:
"It's my feeling that no one should have concern for voting outside the two-party system, and the basis for the vote is not to decide the election."
- Bob Ritter, 57, of LaGrange, who plans to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson
"We do have a great country, but we're not focused on fixing our problems. How is it that we have $19 trillion in debt, and we're looking outside of our country?"
- Trump supporter David Greenwood, 43, of Marlboro
"She's not immune to pressure from her constituents, so I think she will ultimately make decisions and create policies based on that pressure."
- Sam Beckenhauer, a Vassar College student in Poughkeepsie, on supporting Clinton
"While I do support his ideas, I don't like how opinionated he can be sometimes. Because everybody has opinions, but I think it's how you portray those."
- Sara Lanfair, 18, of Owego, who is backing Trump
"You need to do something to have a strong middle class, and that's what she wants to do, and that's why I want to vote for Hillary."
- Rafael Chapine, 23, of Mount Vernon, a student at Westchester Community College
"It's really unfair that we've been left with these two."
- Alyssa Hoffmeier, 23, of Rochester, who may write in Bernie Sanders.
"He is the party line and that's the issue where I am at now. I do not want to not vote, but I don't want to waste my vote."
- Jessica Gaspar, 33, of Hilton, who is deciding whether to back Trump
"I hope in this election what Hilary Clinton is saying about starting from the bottom and building up that way — instead of the top and hoping it falls down — hopefully that will happen."
- Suhailah Morgan, 36, of Binghamton
"I hope she can represent all the women in the country and really work on issues that are important to us."
- Monique Stone, 24, of Rochester, on supporting Clinton
"I feel he is an abomination to our country and the world. Anyone but Trump would be a better candidate and I'm sorry Bernie didn't make it."
- Anna Zolner, 45, of Mount Vernon
"I agree with his ideas on immigration, on checking people when they come into the country to make sure they're eligible to come in."
- Victor Berger, 77, of New City, on supporting Trump
"I don't agree with building walls and keeping people out of our country."
- Sheryl Fuhrmann, 62, of Piermont, who is supporting Clinton