WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ confidence in higher education has slipped back after a modest uptick last year. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the institution, compared with 42% last year. When Gallup first measured confidence in higher education in 2015, 57% were confident. Significant declines followed in 2018 and 2023.
Currently, 37% of Americans say they have “some” confidence in higher education, while 25% have “very little” or “none.” The percentage with very little or no confidence in higher education climbed from 10% in 2015 to 32% in 2024, before retreating to 23% last year.
These results are from the June 1-15 Lumina Foundation-Gallup Confidence in Higher Education survey.
Declining confidence this year is seen primarily among Democrats. The 50% of Democrats who are confident in higher education is a new low for the group and is down from 61% last year. Still, Democrats remain more confident than independents (39%) and Republicans (23%). The latter groups’ opinions are similar to a year ago.
The long-term decline in confidence in higher education has been steepest among Republicans, down 33 percentage points from 56% in 2015, compared with declines of 18 points among Democrats and nine points among independents.
College graduates (43%) continue to have more confidence in higher education than those without a four-year college degree (35%). Since 2015, the average gap between college graduates and nongraduates has been 10 percentage points.
However, in the past three years, the gap between college graduates and nongraduates has been entirely accounted for by the views of U.S. adults with a postgraduate education. Currently, 49% of postgraduates have confidence in higher education, compared with 36% of graduates with a bachelor’s degree only and 35% of nongraduates.
Cost, Politics, Instruction Main Reasons for Lack of Confidence
The survey probed respondents for why they do or do not have confidence in higher education. For those who lack confidence, responses generally focus on three broad themes — perceived political agendas on college campuses (31%), the high cost of a college education (30%), and colleges not preparing students well for the workforce (25%).
Mentions of political and instructional/workforce preparation matters are down compared with last year, while mentions of cost are up. Even with more people citing cost this year, it is lower than it was in 2024, the first year the question was asked, when 35% mentioned it.
The next most common reasons Americans give for not having confidence in higher education include poor college administration, poor quality of education, and Trump administration interference in higher education, all mentioned by 8%.
For the first time this year, artificial intelligence (AI) was mentioned, in terms of the disruptive effect it is having on education and the workforce, with 2% of respondents offering that response.
Confidence Rooted in Training, Knowledge, Job Opportunities
The three most common reasons people give for being confident in higher education is that it provides good training for students in critical thinking and other skills (33%), makes students informed and knowledgeable (30%), and provides them with better job opportunities (19%). Mentions of training are up for the second consecutive year, from 19% the first year the question was asked in 2024 to 24% last year, before the nine-point increase this year.
Other reasons U.S. adults give for being confident in higher education include its quality (8%), its innovation (5%) and people’s own personal experience with higher education (5%). Mentions of quality are down from 17% in 2025 and 13% in 2024.
Public Believes AI Will Diminish Value of a College Degree
A new question this year asked Americans whether they believe college degrees will become more important or less important over the next five years as AI becomes more widely used. Americans generally see AI as a threat to the value of a college degree, with 46% predicting that AI will make college degrees “somewhat less” (29%) or “much less” important (17%), more than double the 20% who think college degrees will become “somewhat more” (9%) or “much more” important (11%). The remaining 33% do not think the importance of a college degree will change because of AI.
As might be expected, whether people think college degrees will become more important because of AI is related to their overall confidence in higher education.
- Among those who are confident in higher education, 29% believe college degrees will become more important, 39% expect no change, and 32% think they will become less important.
- In contrast, just 10% of those who are not confident in higher education think degrees will become more important, 23% foresee no change, and 64% believe they will become less important.
Non-college graduates (20%) are as likely as college graduates (21%) to say that college degrees will be more important in the future because of AI. But a larger share of the non-degree group (49% of nongraduates vs. 39% of college graduates) think degrees will be less important.
Implications
U.S. public confidence in higher education remains much lower than it was a decade ago, but Americans’ views are not quite as negative as they were in 2024, when roughly equal shares had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence as had very little or none. After a slight recovery in confidence last year among all political party groups, views of higher education fell back this year, mainly among Democrats.
Critics of higher education say that it costs too much, that colleges are promoting political agendas and that students are not taught the right skills to succeed once they graduate. The latter criticism takes on added significance with AI emerging as a technology that could disrupt the workforce and make it harder for graduates to find work once they finish their education. The challenge for higher education is whether it can adapt its instruction to set students up for success in the future workplace.
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