One-Third of Americans Say College Is Worth the Cost

About one-third of American voters said in a recent NBC News survey that a four-year degree is worth the cost.

Two-thirds of respondents say the four-year degree isn’t “worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off,” according to NBC News. In a similar survey from CNBC in 2013, 53 percent said college was worth the cost.

“It’s just remarkable to see attitudes on any issue shift this dramatically … Americans used to view a college degree as aspirational—it provided an opportunity for a better life. And now that promise is really in doubt,” Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates told NBC News. Horwitt conducted the poll along with Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.

As other recent public opinion polls about higher ed have found, opinions on the value of a college degree were sharply divided by party. About 22 percent of Republicans said college was worth the cost compared to 47 percent of Democrats. In 2013, 55 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of Democrats thought college was worth the cost.

About 1,000 registered voters took the survey from Oct. 24–28. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.

About 46 percent of respondents with a college degree thought college was worth the cost, while 71 percent of those without a degree said it wasn’t worth the money.

Jacob Kennedy, a 28-year-old bartender in Detroit who has a two-year degree, told NBC News that the cost of the four-year degree “overwhelms the value.”

“You go to school with all that student debt—the jobs you get out of college don’t pay that debt, so you have to go find something else that can pay that debt,” he said.