Only 36% of Americans are confident in the value of a college education, down from 57% in 2015. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans believe that U.S. higher education is heading in the “wrong direction.”
A recent Gallup/Lumina Foundation poll found that just 36% of adults have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in higher education. report From the Associated Press.
“What’s shocking to me is that we’re actually seeing an increase in people with low or no self-confidence,” said Courtney Brown, vice president of the education nonprofit Lumina.
Notably, trust in the U.S. higher education system has declined even among those who say they have a good impression of it, with fewer Americans saying they have “some” trust than last year and more saying they have “very little trust” or “no trust at all.”
Results from this year’s poll show that those with little or no confidence (32%) are just as likely to be highly confident.
Trust in the U.S. higher education system has declined across all age groups, including gender, age and political affiliation, but it has fallen 36 percentage points over the past decade among Republican respondents, a larger decline than among Democrats and Independents.
The survey also asked questions to better understand the reasons for the decline in trust.
Nearly a third of respondents said the cost of a college degree is “too expensive,” and 24 percent said they believe students are not getting an adequate education or are not being taught the skills they need to be successful in the workplace.
The survey did not ask about recent pro-Hamas protests on college campuses across the country, but respondents expressed concerns about indoctrination, political bias and schools being too liberal, with 41 percent of those who lacked confidence in higher education citing a political agenda.
More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) said universities are heading in the “wrong direction,” while only 31% said they believe they are heading in the right direction.
As Breitbart News reported, schools across the country are preparing for what’s being called an “enrollment cliff,” which could see high schools and colleges close, staff laid off, and school districts grappling with financial problems.
While a declining birth rate in the United States is one factor, it is also suggested that an increase in pro-terrorism protests on college campuses and the ousting of an Ivy League president after public embarrassment are likely contributing to an overall decline in confidence in higher education.
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