44% of Americans Expect Importance of College Education to Decline Over Next 10 Years, New Survey Reveals

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Aug 06, 2024, 08:32 ET

New College Consensus poll shows most Americans think traditional 4-year college best route to satisfying career, but nearly half expect importance of traditional college education to decline over next decade, with trade school offering an equal or better return on investment.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C., Aug. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- College Consensus, a comprehensive resource for college rankings and information, has released results of a new poll asking Americans about their confidence in higher education. Their findings can be seen at:

https://www.collegeconsensus.com/research/trust-in-higher-education/

How much do you trust community college to lead to career/financial satisfaction?

If you have a lower level of trust ("Slightly" or "Do not"), what factors contribute to that feeling?

Partnering with market research firm, Pollfish, Consensus surveyed 500 Americans to ask what they think of higher education in 2024. The poll included an equal number of self-identifying men and women, as well as equal numbers from five age groups ranging from 18 to over 54 years old.

In this poll, College Consensus asked average Americans their opinions on:

traditional 4-year degrees
community college
online college
trade schools
tech bootcamps

Respondents were asked how much they trust each form of education to lead to career and financial satisfaction - Completely Trust, Mostly Trust, Moderately Trust, Slightly Trust, or Do Not Trust at All. And for each possible answer - trusting or not trusting - respondents were asked why they felt that way.

As author Gabriel Sealey-Morris explains, "For generations, we've clung to the idea that a college degree will lead to a satisfying career and financial stability." However, in recent years, with high student loan debt and rapid inflation, there have been signs that American feel less confident about higher education.

The College Consensus poll found that trust in traditional 4-year college education is still solid, but shows some definite cracks. While more than 50% of respondents said they completely or mostly trust traditional 4-year college, they were still very concerned about cost and debt.

Most surprisingly, almost half (44%) said that they actually expect traditional college to be less important in the next decade.

In addition to feeling largely confident about traditional college, Americans also expressed a high degree of trust in trade schools. In fact, they viewed return on investment for trade schools almost as highly as traditional college. People 45-54 years old actually considered trade school a better return on investment than traditional college, 41% to 34% respectively.

On the other hand, despite years of heavy advertising and hype, Americans still feel less confident about online college and tech bootcamps than they do about traditional college, community college, and trade schools.

College Consensus' findings suggest that Americans are still somewhat unsure what they feel about education. As Sealey-Morris explains, "In an era of pandemic, economic anxiety, and political instability, the security of a traditional 4-year degree may look desirable to young people." On the other hand, "other more experienced adults doubt the long-term prospects of traditional education. And it may be true that that stability is a thing of the past – if it ever existed."

College Consensus is a comprehensive education resource that combines expert reviews, student feedback, and key data to provide accurate and unbiased information about colleges and universities.

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SOURCE College Consensus