Americans split over confidence in higher education: Survey

Americans are almost equally divided over their confidence in higher education, with an increasing number of individuals expressing reduced trust in postsecondary education, according to a recent Gallup survey.

The poll, released Monday, found 36 percent of respondents have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education, while 32 percent said they have some confidence and 32 percent expressed little to no confidence.

The latest findings mark a significant drop in faith from when Gallup first measured confidence in 2015, when 57 percent had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence and only 10 percent had little or none.

Confidence dropped among various subgroups, especially among Republicans, Gallup noted. Twenty percent of Republicans said they are confident, while 50 percent have little or no confidence. The results are nearly the opposite of 2015, when 56 percent of Republicans had a great deal of confidence and 11 percent had little to none.

Democrats also showed reduced confidence, with 56 percent saying they have trust in higher education, down from 68 percent in 2015.

The same was observed among independents, 35 percent of which said they are confident, a 13-point drop from 2015.

When surveyed participants were asked for the reasons behind their confidence level, 27 percent of those who are confident said it is important that individuals and society to be educated, while 24 percent pointed to the opportunities afforded by higher education.

About 19 percent said they are confident because of the training higher education provides, and 13 percent said the quality of professors and college administrators, Gallup said.

Of those who have very little or no confidence, Gallup said many pointed to the idea that colleges are pushing certain political agendas or not teaching the right kinds of skills.

Forty-one percent said colleges are “too liberal” and attempt to “indoctrinate” or “brainwash” students, while 37 percent said higher education does not teach relevant skills. About 28 percent pointed to cost concerns, including the price of college education or high student debt levels.

Those surveyed also expressed a lack of optimism about the future of higher education, with 68 percent who said it is going in the wrong direction and 31 percent said it is headed in the right direction.

The Gallup analysis was in partnership with Lumina Foundation and based on telephone samples on June 3-23 among a random sample of 1,005 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.