Students Trust College Leaders More Than Politicians

College students are roughly split on whether they think institutional leaders have their best interests at heart, according to new survey data from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation published Thursday. Fifty-five percent of students said they felt administrators act in students’ best interest most or all of the time, while 45 percent said they thought leaders made decisions in their best interest sometimes, rarely or never.

The survey, which examined students’ perceptions of who influences their college experience, found that state and federal officials also played a role. With policy shifts affecting research funding, curriculum, diversity initiatives and more, 58 percent of undergraduate students reported that federal or state policies contributed to at least a moderate change on campus. And although students were divided on trust in campus leadership and the effects of federal and state policies, survey data showed that students from all political parties reported higher approval of campus-led policies compared to state and federal policies. While 79 percent of respondents approved of decisions made by their institution’s leaders, only 56 percent said they approved of such policies made by state leaders and 45 percent approved of federal policy decisions affecting their campus.

Trust in campus leadership varied depending on the type of institution students attended. Community college students reported slightly higher levels of trust in their institutional leaders compared to their peers at four-year institutions, the data showed. Students enrolled at the most selective colleges reported lower levels of trust than their peers at all other institutions. When broken down by political affiliation, 62 percent of Republican-identified students said their campus leaders act in students’ best interest all or most of the time, compared to 55 percent of students who identified as Democrats.

Over all, the students surveyed expressed more confidence in higher education than the broader American public, whose trust in the sector has fallen precipitously over the last decade. The decaying trust is due in large part to the high cost of college, perceived political agendas in the classroom and concerns about adequate workforce preparation, according to a Gallup report released in 2025. That survey found that 42 percent of American adults reported a great deal of trust in higher ed in 2025, down from 57 percent in 2015. The results showed that trust was the lowest in 2024, when 36 percent reported a great deal of trust, 32 percent reported some trust and 32 percent reported little or no trust in higher education.

Although the Gallup and Lumina survey suggests mixed trust in institutional leaders, past Inside Higher Ed Student Voice surveys show that students have greater trust in faculty (whom they trust the most) and advisers than in administrators and executive-level leaders (whom they trust the least).

College and university presidents are aware of the public trust issue, and few think that higher education is actually doing a good job of responding to it, according to an Inside Higher Ed survey of college and university presidents published earlier this year. More than half of respondents said they had launched campaigns to boost public trust, and many said they were trying to better communicate why college is worth the investment for individual students and the value of college to the broader community.