American Support for College Education Craters to Record Low

The number of Americans who feel a college education is “very important” has crashed to an all-time low, a new Gallup poll finds.

The polling group has found that only three in ten Americans now consider a college degree “very important” to attain. And the question, which Gallup has polled since 1978, finds similarly lower results across all demographics.

The cratering in America’s trust in higher education began plummeting in 2013 when 70 percent of those polled felt college was important. By comparison, today, only 31 percent feel that college is “very important.” Gallup also says the negativity is four percentage points lower than last year’s results.

Looked at another way, Gallup said that in 2013 only six percent of respondents said a college education was “not too important.” Today that number has soared to 29 percent.

The finding is consistent across all demographics. Gallup added that “Even groups that have historically placed greater importance on college have registered substantial declines.”

“In 2019, majorities of women, middle-aged and older adults, Democrats, Black and Hispanic adults, and college graduates said college was very important. Although most of these groups remain more likely than their counterparts to hold this view, each has registered a double-digit decline,” Gallup explained.

“Americans have increasingly questioned the importance of a college education over the past 13 years. The share saying it is very important has fallen to a record-low 31%, while the percentage saying it is not too important has climbed to about the same level. The long-term decline spans major demographic groups, even as women, Democrats, people of color and college graduates remain relatively more likely than their counterparts to consider college very important,” the firm concluded.

One explanation for the steep decline since 2013 is the exorbitant costs of a college education, the group speculates. Gallup notes a separate poll found that only 12 percent of respondents said that a college degree is affordable.

Earlier this year, Gallup had a poll directly asking about America’s confidence in higher education and that poll, too, found colleges and universities losing ground. The poll from July found that only 38 percent of Americans polled said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education as a whole. That result had fallen from the 42 percent who trusted higher education the year prior.

Despite all that, though, the firm also found that most parents still hope their children earn a college degree right after high school.

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