- A new NBC News poll shows 63% of U.S. voters say a four-year degree isn’t worth the cost, citing high debt and weak job-skill preparation
- This marks a major opinion shift over the past decade: In 2017, voters were nearly split, and in 2013 a majority believed a degree was worth it.
- The decline spans both parties but is more dramatic among Republicans (43% saw college as worth it in 2017 vs. 22% now), while Democrats show a smaller decline.
- Even those with degrees have become more skeptical: 46% of graduates now say college is worth the cost, down sharply from 63% in 2013.
A large majority of U.S. voters say a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost, a shift across nearly all demographics during the past several years, a recent NBC News poll found.
According to the poll, which was conducted among 1,000 voters in late October, only one in three people considered a bachelor’s degree worth the cost because it would help people to get a better job and earn more money after graduation. Conversely, 63% said college isn’t worth it, saying that students accumulate large amounts of debt and fail to acquire specific job skills during their four years in school.
Less than a decade ago, the same poll found voters with more favorable — though still skeptical — views of a college education. In 2017, 49% considered it worth the cost and 47% said it wasn’t. Just over a decade ago, in 2013, CNBC found that 53% of respondents said a college degree was worth the cost, and 40% disagreed, NBC News reported.
The shift away from a bachelor’s degree has occurred across party lines, though most drastically among Republicans. In 2017, 43% of Republicans said college was worth the cost, compared with 22% who say the same now. Fifty-two percent of Democrats approved of a college education in 2017, while 47% do so in 2025.
NBC News noted that the Republican Party has begun attracting voters without college degrees in recent years, while the Democratic Party has gained voters with degrees, which could help explain the extent of Republicans’ tendency not to favor college attendance.
Jeff Horwitt, one of the pollsters, said,“It’s just remarkable to see attitudes on any issue shift this dramatically, and particularly on a central tenet of the American dream, which is a college degree.”
“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,” he continued, according to NBC News. “What is really surprising about it is that everybody has moved. It’s not just people who don’t have a college degree.”
According to the outlet, 46% of those with college degrees say getting a degree is worth the cost, down from 63% who said the same in 2013. Seventy-one percent of those without a degree say a degree isn’t worth the cost, and 26% said it is.
NBC News also reported that Gallup polls show voters’ confidence in higher education has generally decreased across the past decade.
The post NBC News poll finds most Americans say college degrees aren’t worth cost appeared first on CatholicVote org.