A Growing Number of Americans Are Questioning the Value of Going to College

College education’s percieved value is dropping compared to the past few years.

“The share of Americans who believe colleges and universities have a positive impact on the country has dropped by 14 percentage points since 2020.” This is according to the most recent results of an annual survey conducted by New America, a nonpartisan think tank. The data has been stable over time, indicating that post-secondary education is generally seen as a good return on investment. However, there has been a drop in how people see higher education’s impact. The survey finds that Democrats and Republicans have different views of higher education, including its positive impact on the country (73% of Democrats and 37% Republicans feel that it is positive), and who should pay for higher education (77% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans say the government should fund higher education). However, over half of the Americans surveyed, regardless of political standings, think getting American education after high school is hard to afford.