IHE: Survey: Public Support For Higher Ed is Wobbling

[Wahoo Redux]

Survey: Conflicting Views of Higher Education

While Americans continue to believe in the overall value of higher education, the share who say that colleges and universities are having a positive effect "on the way things are going in this country today" has declined by 14 percentage points since 2020, according to a new survey from New America.

[dismalist]

Survey: Conflicting Views of Higher Education

While Americans continue to believe in the overall value of higher education, the share who say that colleges and universities are having a positive effect "on the way things are going in this country today" has declined by 14 percentage points since 2020, according to a new survey from New America.

The survey questions are very vague. The whole thing seems another effort to increase public funding for higher ed.

What struck me is that there aren't large political affiliation differences about the value of higher ed, but rather about the finance.

The eternal struggle over resources ... , Act 2407.

[apl68]

I would guess that a lot of this skepticism is driven by the numerous examples of people who tried higher ed and had bad experiences with it.  A lot of people got pushed into trying higher ed some years back who really didn't need to be there.  And of course a lot of people got scammed by for-profit schools and lost a lot of money, and, fair or not, probably developed a dislike of higher ed in general as a result.  I've mentioned before that our local high school guidance counselor really tries to encourage students who have clearly shown little interest in and aptitude for formal education into other career directions.