WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just 12% of U.S. adults say four-year colleges and universities are doing an excellent (4%) or good job (8%) providing an affordable education, while nearly two-thirds (63%) say they are doing a poor job, according to a new survey from Gallup in partnership with Lumina Foundation. Across seven attributes measured in the survey, including quality of education, workforce preparation and free speech, Americans rate affordability the lowest. Four-year colleges are rated best for finding new discoveries (53% excellent or good) and providing a quality education (50%).
These results are from the June 1-15 Lumina Foundation-Gallup Confidence in Higher Education survey.
There are notable differences by age, education level and political party in views of the job four-year colleges are doing. Younger, non-White and college-educated Americans are more positive about four-year college performance across nearly all measures. However, political party is the demographic for which the divide is sharpest: Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents rate four-year institutions positively at rates 30 to 48 percentage points higher than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents on quality, workforce preparation, advancing knowledge and free speech.
Affordability is a key exception to this trend, as people across age groups, races, education levels and even political parties (14% of Democrats and 5% of Republicans) provide similarly negative ratings of four-year institutions’ performance in providing an affordable education.
Two-Year Colleges Rated Higher on Most Attributes
Two-year colleges receive higher positive ratings than four-year institutions on six of the seven attributes measured. These include providing access to education for people from all backgrounds (68% excellent or good), providing a quality education (61%), affordability (54%), and workforce preparation (52%). The only area in which four-year colleges outrate two-year colleges is advancing knowledge and finding new discoveries (53% for four-year vs. 46% for two-year).
Demographic divides are far less pronounced in Americans' ratings of two-year colleges. Adults with higher levels of education are more positive about two-year institutions than those with less education across most measures, but differences by age, race, and political party are modest and inconsistent in direction.
Even on attributes that sharply divide Republicans and Democrats in their views of four-year colleges, the two-year ratings draw much closer agreement. Democrats and Republicans differ by 20 points or less on every attribute measured, compared with gaps of up to 48 points for four-year institutions. Similar to four-year trends, older Americans are more likely than younger Americans to rate two-year colleges highly for AI preparation.
Most Parents Would Prefer Additional Education Beyond High School
Despite criticisms of higher education, and particularly poor marks on affordability, most parents of children under age 18 still want their child to pursue some form of education immediately after high school. About three-quarters of parents say they would most prefer that their child enroll in a four-year college (38%), a two-year or community college (19%), or a job-training or certification program (17%) after high school.
In comparison, 14% of parents would most prefer their child take time off to figure out their next step, 7% would prefer they go straight into the workforce, and 5% would prefer they join the military. The question was also asked last year and showed similar results.
The strongest demographic patterns in parents’ preferences for their child after high school are related to their own educational attainment and household income. Roughly nine in 10 parents with a four-year college degree or higher prefer a pathway after high school for their child. Income tracks closely: 86% of upper-income parents prefer a post-high school pathway, compared with 58% of lower-income parents.
Partisan differences appear in the type of pathway parents prefer rather than whether they prefer one. Democratic parents are roughly twice as likely as Republican parents to most prefer a four-year college for their child (53% vs. 26%), while Republican parents are more than twice as likely to most prefer a job-training or certification program (24% vs. 10%). The combined share preferring a post-high school pathway of some kind is 81% among Democrats and 69% among Republicans. There are no differences by race.
Parents who do not want their child to enroll in a four-year college were asked the main reason for their preference. The main reason by far is that it is too expensive or not affordable, with 33% giving this response to the open-ended question. Another 11% mention the prospect of the child incurring significant debt or taking on loans to pay for college.
Other common reasons parents offer for not wanting their child to enroll in a four-year college include concerns about the return on investment of a four-year degree (that it doesn’t guarantee a good job and is not a good value, generally), mentioned by 17%, as well as preferences for their child to pursue a skilled trade job (11%) and concerns about perceived political agendas on college campuses (11%).
Americans Look to Institutions and Governments to Lower Costs
When asked who should be responsible for making higher education more affordable, Americans point overwhelmingly to institutions and governments rather than to students and their families. Three-quarters (76%) include individual colleges among the three parties most responsible, 73% state governments, and 67% the federal government. Just 24% name students and their families among the top three, and only 15% name employers.
Although Democrats and Republicans agree that the cost problem is institutional, they disagree sharply about which institutions should solve it: 87% of Democrats include the federal government among the three parties most responsible, compared with 40% of Republicans — a 47-point gap. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to include students and families in their top three (40% vs. 13%). Adults aged 18 to 29 are more likely than those aged 65 and older to name the federal government as most responsible, while older Americans are more likely to name individual colleges.
When asked to identify the single entity most responsible, Americans split roughly evenly between the federal government (37%) and individual colleges (34%), with state governments a distant third (15%). Just 6% say students and their families should bear primary responsibility, and 5% name community-based or private scholarship organizations.
Preferences for primary responsibility differ significantly by political party. A majority of Democrats (53%) name the federal government as most responsible, while the same percentage of Republicans name individual colleges. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to name students and their families as most responsible (10% vs. 3%), though this remains a small minority view in both parties.
Bottom Line
Americans see a higher education system that does many things reasonably well but falls short on the single dimension that most directly determines whether students can access it. Four-year institutions earn their poorest marks by far on affordability, and that judgment holds across age, education, race, and party lines with a level of consensus rarely seen in public opinion on higher education. Two-year colleges, by contrast, are viewed as more affordable and more accessible, drawing stronger ratings and less polarized ones across most aspects measured in the survey.
Yet nearly three in four parents want their child to pursue a pathway after high school, with a four-year degree the most preferred option, and Americans across political ideologies agree that the responsibility for lowering costs lies with institutions and governments, not with students and their families. Though they differ on which institution should lead in addressing affordability, the underlying expectation is consistent — that the system, not the consumer, needs to address accessibility.
Learn more about Lumina Foundation-State of Higher Education research.
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