Employers remain confident in higher education, even as artificial intelligence reshapes the workforce and raises questions about the value of a college degree.
That was the main takeaway from a new survey from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, which found that 60% of hiring decision-makers expressed high confidence in higher education, compared with just 38% of U.S. adults in a separate June survey. Eight in 10 employers said they prefer candidates with college degrees, regardless of whether the position requires one.
Nearly half (48%) of employers expect AI to make college degrees more important over the next five years, while 26% anticipate degrees will become less important. Three-quarters said a degree or other credential will be at least as important as it is today in securing a good job at their organization. Employers in information and education and health services expressed particularly strong confidence in higher education.
“Institutional leaders should see employers’ confidence as an important validation of higher education’s value but also as a call to ensure that value is shared equitably,” California Competes CEO Dr. Su Jin Jez said via email.
To Shawn VanDerziel, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the findings seem to reaffirm the work colleges are doing to prepare students for the workforce, even if students themselves can’t always articulate the value or make the direct connection between what they’ve learned and workplace readiness.
“The effective use of AI encompasses key skills that higher education and employers work to develop in college students, interns, and graduates. These skills include technology, of course, but also other career readiness skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and professionalism,” VanDerziel said in an email. “In fact, employers have told us that, in terms of AI use, good judgement matters most. Our research found that nearly four out of five employers say they value candidates who know when to use AI — and when not to. That requires critical thinking.
“Organizations are looking at new college graduates to be their future leaders, and they believe that future includes AI. The career readiness skills college students are developing are skills that will endure — and become more important — in the age of AI,” he added.
The findings also reveal differences by employer size. Just 44% of employers at organizations with fewer than 10 employees expressed high confidence in higher education, compared with 70% at organizations employing 500 to 999 people. The smallest employers were also less likely to prefer degree holders.
“While a degree leads to earnings gains, those returns vary across local labor markets and also by residents’ race, ethnicity, and sex,” Jez said. “It is also important to remember that the value is multidimensional, and that colleges must define and deliver it in ways that respond to students’ goals and circumstances as well as the needs of their local communities.”
The survey included 2,500 U.S. hiring decision-makers who participated in an opt-in online panel between Aug. 5 and 18, 2026. The findings suggest that, despite broader public skepticism, employers continue to see value in college credentials as AI changes the skills and qualifications the workforce will need.
“In our research, we’ve found that new graduates tend to overestimate their career readiness proficiency compared to employer evaluations, especially in leadership, professionalism, critical thinking, and communication,” VanDerziel said. “Efforts are underway to not only make students aware of these skills, but to help students develop and articulate them.”
Even as 80% of hiring decision-makers say they prefer candidates with college degrees, institutions must ensure those credentials open doors to meaningful work and long-term career growth. As AI continues to change the workplace, that means looking beyond the skills graduates acquire to whether they can put those skills to use in quality jobs that align with their goals.
In an AI-powered era of work and learning, Jez said it is important for institutions to hone in on the tangible skills employers are looking for. She posed that colleges and states should work with students and employers to strengthen workforce data to better understand whether graduates are finding quality jobs that use their education and support their long-term goals. And “these outcomes should be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, income, geography, and other characteristics, alongside measures of who has access to work-based learning and other career-building experiences that increasingly shape opportunity,” she said.
“There is a formidable movement among colleges and universities to embed career readiness skills in the classroom and throughout the college experience. And, for their part, employers are developing the key skills they’re seeking in their interns and calling out particular skills in their job descriptions so students know what’s important to them.”
