Majority of Americans Say College Not Affordable

Despite a drop in net tuition prices over the past several years, a new survey shows that the majority of Americans believe four-year colleges aren’t committed to affordability.

On Wednesday, Gallup and the Lumina Foundation published the results of a June web survey of 2,043 adults that asked about their views on college value and affordability. Although other recent data shows falling confidence in higher education over the past decade, nearly three-quarters of parents surveyed said they would prefer for their child to pursue some type of postsecondary pathway immediately after high school.

And 38 percent of those parents want their kids to attend a four-year university, compared to 19 percent who want their kids to enroll in a community college and 17 percent who want them to enroll in a job-training or certification program. And 53 percent of respondents also said four-year colleges were “excellent” or “good” for advancing new knowledge and finding new discoveries, compared to 46 percent who said the same about community colleges.

At the same time, survey respondents gave four-year colleges the lowest marks on affordability, with 63 percent saying that those institutions are doing a “poor job” of making college affordable; just 12 percent said they were doing a good or excellent job. And among the 26 percent of parents who didn’t want their child to enroll in a four-year college, the most cited reason was that they believe it’s too expensive.

“Parents still overwhelmingly want their children to pursue some form of education after high school, with the highest numbers wanting them to get a four-year degree,” Courtney Brown, Lumina’s vice president of impact and planning, told Inside Higher Ed. “But people no longer believe that it’s actually priced within their reach.”

Meanwhile, only 20 percent of Americans believe that two-year colleges are doing a “poor job” of making college affordable, according to the survey. Respondents also ranked community colleges “excellent” or “good” at a higher rate than four-year universities across numerous other categories, including providing access to education for people from all backgrounds (68 percent), providing a quality education (61 percent), affordability (54 percent) and workforce preparation (52 percent).

That higher regard for community colleges isn’t “just because they’re less expensive than a four-year degree,” Brown said.

“People increasingly see them delivering value, and people are willing to pay if they believe they’re going to get value on the other end,” she added. “You can enroll for an affordable price and get a credential much faster than you can with a bachelor’s degree. And a certificate or associate’s degree is more closely linked with the workforce, which helps people see [a clear path] to a job on the other end.”

However, data from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce shows that while associate degrees and certificates have a higher return on investment 10 years after graduation, bachelor’s degree holders have much higher lifetime earnings in most cases.

Brown said that’s part of the reason why 48 percent of parents with a college degree who responded to the survey prefer that their child enroll in a four-year university, compared to fewer than 20 percent of parents with some college or only a high school diploma. “They’ve reaped the benefits of less unemployment, higher wages and feeling more purpose in their jobs,” she said. “They can see what higher education can deliver.”

And while the majority of both Republicans (69 percent) and Democrats (81 percent) want their children to pursue some type of postsecondary education, they’re divided on their preferred pathway. Just over 50 percent of Democratic parent respondents said they’d most prefer four-year college, compared to 26 percent of Republican parents. Meanwhile, 24 percent of Republican parents said they’d prefer their child pursue a job-training or certification program, compared to 10 percent of Democratic parents.

Nonetheless, the notion that college is too expensive is a “unifying” viewpoint across party lines, Brown said.

But the dominant public perception doesn’t align with the downward trajectory of college tuition prices.

A recent economic analysis found that students across all income brackets are paying less for college than they did six years ago at all types of institutions. For low- and middle-income students at the nation’s wealthiest private colleges, the drop was especially high—falling 28.1 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively.

However, education advocates have long criticized colleges and universities for a lack of price transparency; it’s a common practice for institutions to advertise a much higher sticker price than the majority of students end up paying.

Brown said that price transparency is the “missing link” to rebuilding Americans’ trust that higher education—especially a four-year degree—is worth the cost.

“The data show that parents overwhelmingly want their kid to have some form of education after high school, and a bachelor’s degree is the gold standard,” she said. “Americans aren’t giving up on higher education, but they need to make sure that they can actually access it. But this lack of cost transparency is really not even allowing them to step in the door because it’s overwhelming and confusing.”