The decline represents an erosion of trust in America’s colleges and universities that has been occurring since 2015, when 57% indicated confidence, according to the survey, conducted by Lumina Foundation and global pollster Gallup.
The survey found that the recent decline was driven largely among Democrats, with 50% indicating confidence in higher education – a “new low” for Democrats and down from 61% last year. But the report says Democrats have higher levels of confidence than independents and Republicans, whose levels stood at 39% and 23%, respectively.
The long-term decline is found mostly among Republicans. The 23% confidence level among Republicans is down 33 percentage points from where it stood in 2015 at 56%, according to the survey.
Those who graduated from college had higher levels of confidence than those who did not – 43% vs. 35%, the survey found.
Three themes emerged as the reasons behind the loss of confidence: apparent political agendas on campus; the high cost of college and colleges failing to prepare students well for the workforce.
“Gallup’s numbers are a warning, but they are also a roadmap,” said Julian Thompson, senior director for strategy development at the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building.
