The share of Americans who consider a college education “very important” has fallen to a record-low 31%, down sharply from 70% in 2013 as concerns over cost and value continue to reshape attitudes toward higher education.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Americans are placing significantly less importance on a college education than they did a decade ago, with a new Gallup poll finding that only 31% now consider college “very important.”
That figure is down four percentage points from last year and represents the lowest reading in the seven times Gallup has asked the question since 1978. In 2013, 70% of Americans said college was very important, meaning that assessment has fallen by more than half over the past 13 years.
The decline has been accompanied by a sharp increase in skepticism. Twenty-nine percent of Americans now say a college education is “not too important,” up from only 6% in 2013, while 39% describe it as “fairly important,” compared with 23% in 2013. The 64-point gap that separated “very important” from “not too important” in 2013 has narrowed to just two points.
The latest result is also slightly below Gallup’s earliest measurement in 1978, when 36% considered college very important. That figure climbed rapidly to 64% by 1985 before eventually reaching 70% in 2013 and then beginning its long decline.
The shift extends across nearly every major demographic group Gallup examined. To produce larger samples for subgroup comparisons, Gallup combined surveys from 2019 and compared them with combined data from 2025 and 2026. Women, men, younger and older adults, Democrats, Republicans, Black and Hispanic Americans, white adults and college graduates all showed double-digit declines in the percentage saying college is very important.
Some groups remain more enthusiastic about higher education than others. Women, Democrats, Black and Hispanic adults and college graduates are still relatively more likely to rate college as very important, but even those groups have become markedly less likely to do so than they were several years ago.
Affordability appears to be one factor contributing to the changing attitudes. A separate Lumina Foundation-Gallup survey found that only 12% of U.S. adults believe four-year colleges and universities are doing an excellent or good job of providing an affordable education, while 63% rate their performance on affordability as poor.
Two-year institutions receive substantially better marks. Gallup found that 54% of Americans rate two-year colleges positively on affordability, compared with only 12% for four-year schools, while community colleges also score higher on access and workforce preparation.
Despite the growing skepticism, Americans have not broadly rejected education after high school. Gallup found that 73% of adults without a college degree or credential say earning a two- or four-year degree is at least as important today as it was 20 years ago, while 69% of college graduates say the same.
Parents also continue to favor postsecondary education for their children. About three-quarters say they would prefer their child to pursue a four-year college, two-year college or job-training and certification program immediately after high school. That suggests Americans may increasingly be distinguishing between the value of additional education and the idea that a traditional four-year college degree is essential.
The trend also reflects growing interest in alternatives such as community colleges, apprenticeships, trade programs and professional certifications that may require less time and debt while providing a direct path into the workforce.
Gallup conducted the latest survey Aug. 3-24 among 1,200 U.S. adults. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
The long-term trend is nevertheless unmistakable. In little more than a decade, the share of Americans calling college “very important” has fallen from 70% to 31%, while nearly as many now say it is not particularly important at all.
Rather than abandoning education, the findings suggest Americans are increasingly questioning whether the traditional four-year college path still provides enough value to justify its cost.
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