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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Americans’ faith in the higher education system in the U.S. has declined significantly in the past five years, according to a new poll.
The survey from the Pew Research Center, released on Wednesday, found seven in 10 Americans feel the higher education system is “generally going” in the wrong direction, up from 56 percent who said the same in 2020.
Why It Matters
The drop in positivity opinion has been reflected in college enrollment figures, with many Americans choosing to forego higher education amid concerns about tuition costs, student loan debt and worries about what is taught at universities.
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It comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted universities that he views as adversaries to his political agenda, with measures including slashing billions of dollars in federal money for institutions it accuses of antisemitism and liberal bias.
The administration recently invited nine top universities to sign an ideological "compact" that would provide favorable access to funding in exchange for a wide range of commitments, including several around admissions, women’s sports and free speech.
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What To Know
The survey, conducted among 3,445 U.S. adults between September 22 and 28, found the dimming view of the higher education system cuts across all major demographics.
It found that 77 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the higher education system is going in the wrong direction, while 65 percent of Democrats and those who lean Democrat said the same.
For both sides, the share of those who share that view has gone up by at least 10 percentage points since 2020.
The survey also found that a majority of Americans don’t believe colleges are doing a good job in other areas.
A majority (79 percent) say colleges and universities are doing a “fair” or “poor” job of keeping tuition costs affordable, according to the poll. These are the two lowest ratings on a scale ranging from “poor” to “excellent”.
More than half (55 percent) gave “fair” or “poor” ratings when asked how well colleges and universities are preparing students for well-paying jobs. Forty-nine percent gave “poor” or “fair” ratings when asked about whether colleges were developing students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while 45 percent said colleges do a “fair” or “poor” job of exposing students to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints.
But higher education scored the highest marks when asked about research, with a majority of Americans (55 percent) saying that colleges and universities were “excellent,” “very good” or “good” when it came to advancing research and innovation.
What People Are Saying
Aria Razfar, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Education, told Newsweek that while the poll shows that while "both Republicans (77 percent) and Democrats (65 percent) seem to agree that our higher education system is headed in the wrong direction, there is a noticeable difference between them (12 percent).
"This can be somewhat attributable to ideological tendencies in higher education toward liberalism and neoliberal policies. It can also be related to the fact that most of those with college degrees tend to identify as Democrat or Independents who lean Democratically.
"Nevertheless, this survey confirms the fact that the challenges facing higher education transcend political affiliations and need to be examined in light of humanity's changing needs. Perhaps, the time has come to go beyond archaic political loyalties and engage issues on the basis of evidence, merit, and truth, not short-term political expediency."
Sean Reardon, a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, has said that the "evidence is clear that the actual importance of college remains high.”
Reardon said: ”The average college graduate today earns 75 percent more than the average adult with only a high school degree. Moreover, the importance of college is much higher now than in the 1960s-1990s.”
Update 10/17/25, 2:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add comment from Aria Razfar.
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