Americans’ Confidence in Higher Education Continues to Decline
Credit: Image Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images- Americans’ confidence in higher education has dropped again, according to a recent Gallup Poll.
- Only 36% of those surveyed had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education.
- All subgroups have less confidence in higher education, with those who identify as Republican decreasing the most from 2018.
- Democrats, those ages 18-31, and those who hold a college or postgraduate degree have the highest confidence in higher education.
Americans’ confidence in higher education has dropped to a new low, according to a new Gallup Poll.
The survey found that only 36% of respondents said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, compared to 48% in 2018 and 57% in 2015.
Additionally, 40% of respondents in the new poll have “some” and 22% have “very little” confidence in higher education.
Politics seems to play a role in the level of confidence.
While confidence fell across all subgroups, those who identify as Republican had the most dramatic drop, down 20 percentage points from 2018, to 19%.
Only one subgroup — those who identified as Democrats — had a majority of respondents say they had confidence in higher education, with 59% saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence, down from 62% in 2018.
Similar to Republicans, only 29% of adults without a college degree and 31% of those 55 and older said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. That’s down from 45% and 46%, respectively, in 2018.
However, those who have a college or postgraduate degree and those between the ages of 18 and 34 have higher levels of confidence.
Respondents were polled between June 1-22, 2023. While Gallup did not ask respondents for the reasons why they have less confidence in higher education, the authors suggest that the rising costs of postsecondary education likely play a significant role.
During the 2020-2021 school year, tuition and fees averaged $9,375 at a four-year public school and $35,852 at a four-year private nonprofit school.
Additionally, the average cost of college tuition in the U.S. for undergraduate students has more than tripled, multiplying by 3.15 times over the last 58 years, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).