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Here’s the Kind of College That Most Americans Think Is Actually Worth the Money
By Pete Grieve MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
“The percentage of Americans with very little confidence in higher education is at an all-time high.”
Most Americans say two-year colleges provide an education worth the cost, but just a fraction of the public is sold on the value of a four-year school.
Only 18% of respondents in a new Gallup poll said they have at least “quite a lot” of confidence that the education at four-year universities is worth the money, while 55% said they have that confidence for two-year colleges.
There was an even bigger gap when survey respondents were asked about affordability. The poll found that 58% of people have a high amount of confidence in the ability of two-year colleges to provide an affordable education, but that drops to 11% for four-year universities.
“The percentage of Americans with very little confidence in higher education is at an all-time high,” Gallup researchers said in a report. “Lower confidence ratings in four-year institutions and concerns about the cost and value of the degrees they provide may partially explain these declining ratings.”
The Gallup report adds to a large volume of research showing Americans’ deep skepticism in the value of college education. However, the research also shows that the public has more favorable views toward higher education when the time commitment and costs are lower.
Community colleges, many of which offer free tuition, have also been gaining enrollment in the past year. According to College Board research, the cost of a public two-year college for in-district students is much less than in-state costs at public four-year universities.
For the 2023-2024 year, the average cost (tuition, fees, housing and food) after grant aid was $9,640 at two-year colleges versus $15,500 at four-year public schools. Out-of-state costs at four-year colleges and private colleges are far more expensive than either option.
Is college worth the money?
Given American colleges’ mediocre graduation rates and the national issue of student debt, it’s easy to see where the concern about college value comes from.
But despite the public’s negative perception, economic research shows that a four-year degree usually leads to better career outcomes and higher wages, justifying the price tag.
The typical recent college graduate earned $60,000 in 2023, which compares to $36,000 for high school graduates, according to the New York Federal Reserve.
Some universities perform much better than others when it comes to helping students graduate into high-paying roles at an affordable cost. Money’s 2024 Best Colleges ratings, released last month, score 745 schools on factors including graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid and alumni salaries to help students make informed choices.
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Pete Grieve is a New York-based reporter who covers personal finance news. At Money, Pete covers trending stories that affect Americans’ wallets on topics including car buying, insurance, housing, credit cards, retirement and taxes. He studied political science and photography at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. Pete began his career as a professional journalist in 2019. Prior to joining Money, he was a health reporter for Spectrum News in Ohio, where he wrote digital stories and appeared on TV to provide coverage to a statewide audience. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN Politics. Pete received extensive journalism training through Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places reporters in newsrooms to cover underreported issues and communities, and he attended the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in 2021. Pete has discussed his reporting in interviews with outlets including the Columbia Journalism Review and WBEZ (Chicago's NPR station). He’s been a panelist at the Chicago Headline Club’s FOIA Fest and he received the Institute on Political Journalism’s $2,500 Award for Excellence in Collegiate Reporting in 2017. An essay he wrote for Grey City magazine was published in a 2020 book, Remembering J. Z. Smith: A Career and its Consequence.