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Something significant has shifted in how Americans think about college — and the numbers make it impossible to ignore.
A recent Issues and Insights poll found that 59 percent of American adults no longer believe a college education is worth the cost. Just ten years ago, 70 percent of adults said it was. That is a stunning reversal in a single decade. And when parents — the people actually making these decisions and writing these checks — were asked specifically, 56 percent said a four-year degree is not worth the cost.
When the same poll asked whether a high school graduate should pursue a four-year degree, a skilled trade, or enter the workforce directly, only 22 percent chose college. Fifty-five percent chose a skilled trade or vocational path. That is a ratio of more than two to one against the traditional college route — and it cuts across racial and demographic lines.
So what happened? The answer is not complicated. For decades, the educational establishment quietly lowered the bar. Elementary schools promoted students who couldn’t read. High schools graduated students who couldn’t do freshman-level work. States eliminated proficiency exams that would have made the failure impossible to hide. And colleges responded by going woke and inflating grades in the name of equity — while simultaneously raising tuition to record levels.
Here is the cruel irony. Lowering standards attracted more students. More students meant more government aid. More government aid fueled more tuition hikes. As one columnist put it plainly — if you subsidize mediocre education, you get more of it.
The financial case for college has not entirely disappeared. A Georgetown study showed that bachelor’s degree holders still out-earn high school graduates significantly over a lifetime. But that calculation only holds if the degree means something — if the standards are real, the curriculum is rigorous, and the credential is respected by employers. Increasingly, none of those conditions are being met.
There are still excellent institutions — Hillsdale College being a prime example — that have refused to compromise their standards. But they are the exception.
If enough families act on what the polls are telling us, four-year institutions will be forced to reform or close. Several already have. Americans have noticed. The question is whether higher education will respond before it’s too late.
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