Poll Finds More Americans Are Questioning the Value of a College Degree

An increasing number of Americans doubt that a college degree may be worth the time and cost, according to a new poll.

The report released recently by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation found that only 36 percent of adults in the United States have a “great deal” or “quite a lot of confidence” in higher education. This proportion was 57 percent in 2015, Erudera.com reports.

32 percent of respondents said they have some confidence in higher education, and another 32 percent said they have no confidence at all.

Whether college is worth the investment is a concern among people across all demographics, including their political affiliation. The share of Republican respondents has declined 36 percentage points since 2015 when Gallup conducted the first research on Americans’ confidence in higher education.

In 2015, 56 percent of respondents who identified as Republicans expressed “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in higher education in the US, whereas 11 percent said they had little or none.

The June 2024 poll found that 20 percent of Republicans now believe higher education is worth it, and 50 percent have little or no confidence.

“In the past year, all party groups have shown at least some increase in the percentage with very little or no confidence and a decrease in the percentage saying they have some. None of the party groups shows meaningful change in high confidence over the past year,” the report states.

Similarly, 35 percent of respondents who identified as independents said they have confidence in college, a decrease from 48 percent in 2015. Confidence in higher education has also changed among Democrats, with 56 percent saying they are confident in higher education compared to 68 percent in 2015.

Some of the reasons US adults are confident in higher education include the importance of education for society, better job opportunities, good training, quality of education, and innovation.

On the other hand, reasons why they lack confidence in higher education, include:

• 41 percent are in doubt due to political agendas.
• 37 percent because they believe students do not learn the right things (30 percent said students are not properly educated).
• 28 percent said it is costly (25 percent said it’s too expensive).
• 9 percent are concerned about the quality of education. (5 percent mentioned the poor quality of professors/instructors).

Earlier this year, another study found that only one in four adults in the United States believes it is “extremely or very important” to obtain a four-year college degree to find jobs that pay well. The survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that 47 percent said a college degree is worth the cost only without taking student loans.