All major subgroups of Americans express less support for higher education today than they did 12 years ago. The initial decline — between 2013 and 2019 — in the percentage rating college as very important was
steeper among 18- to 34-year-olds than among older adults. However, since then, the rates among older adults have plunged, so that now only about a third of all age groups say a college education is very important.
Democrats rating college as very important has fallen almost as steeply as that of Republicans since 2013. However, most Democrats who do not view college as very important now describe it as fairly important, while few say it’s not too important (49% and 9% of Democrats, respectively). By contrast, Republicans are equally likely to rate it as fairly important (39%) as not too important (39%). In fact, Republicans are about twice as likely to say college is not too important as to say it is very important (20%).
Only 4 in 10 college graduates say college is very important, but few (12%) dismiss it as not too important, while 46% say it’s fairly important.
38% of Americans who lack confidence in higher education cite politics, with another 32% saying college doesn’t teach the right things.