Confidence in higher education drops sharply: Gallup

Confidence in higher education hit a new low as universities have become entangled in political controversies while their cost has skyrocketed, according to a Gallup poll released this month. 

The survey shows that those with a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in universities is at 36 percent of respondents, down from 57 percent in 2015 and 48 percent in 2018. Those who say they have “very little” confidence have hit 22 percent, up from only 9 percent in 2015 and 15 percent in 2018.

But with faith in American institutions declining across the board, higher education was in the fourth-most trusted spot among the institutions polled by Gallup, behind the military, police and small businesses. 

Democrats are the only subgroup that still had majority confidence in universities, at 59 percent, while Republicans had the biggest drop in confidence from 2015-23, falling from 56 percent to 19 percent.

Gallup notes it did not ask questions to determine the cause of the drop in confidence but said “the rising costs of postsecondary education likely play a significant role.”

The cost of going to college has been steadily increasing over the years, with some Ivy Leagues getting close to a $90,000 a year sticker price. 

The price of higher education is also likely top of mind for many voters as the fight for student debt relief has been front-page news, with the Supreme Court late last month striking down President Biden’s forgiveness proposal.

In previous Gallup polling, Democrats had more concerns with the price of a university education, while Republicans did not like the politics involved in higher education.