A recent Gallup Poll survey has shown that the percentage of Americans who consider university education as ‘very important’ has hit a new historic low, reflecting the continuing erosion of public trust in higher education.
According to the survey results released by Gallup on Thursday, only 31% of Americans believe that university education is ‘very important,’ a decrease of 4 percentage points from last year and the lowest recorded since the question was first asked in 1978. Back in 2013, 70% of people still considered university education to be very important.
At the same time, the percentage of American adults who consider university education as ‘not too important’ has risen from 6% in 2013 to the current 29%, while those who view it as ‘fairly important’ (meaning it cannot be ignored but does not reach the highest level of urgency) has increased from 23% to 39%.
Gallup points out that the perception of the importance of university education is declining across all major demographic groups, regardless of age, gender, political orientation, race, or educational level, with double-digit decreases in these categories.
Gallup speculates that the cost of college may be a significant influencing factor. A previous joint survey by the Lumina Foundation and Gallup found that only 12% of American adults believe that college tuition is affordable.
However, the survey also shows that the majority of parents still hope their children will attain some form of degree after high school graduation; 73% of adults believe that a degree is as important as it was 20 years ago.
According to a survey by NBC News in November last year, about two-thirds of Americans believe that a costly four-year college degree is not worth the investment, with many graduates burdened with heavy debts and lacking practical skills to support their families.
This Gallup survey on the ‘importance of university education,’ first conducted in 1978, has witnessed significant shifts in American attitudes towards higher education over the past 48 years with a total of 7 surveys conducted by Gallup.
Overall, confidence in university diplomas has gone through three developmental stages:
• 1978-1985, Rapid Confidence Surge Period: In 1978, only 36% of Americans considered university education ‘very important,’ a record low for that survey at the time. With the transformation of the U.S. economy and the increasing correlation between education level and income, this proportion sharply increased to 64% by 1985.
• 2010-2013, Peak Confidence Period: In 2013, the percentage of people who believed university education was ‘very important’ reached a historic high of 70%, while those who considered it ‘not too important’ were only 6%.
• 2013-Present, Comprehensive Confidence Decline Period: Over the past decade, the social evaluation of higher education has drastically declined, dropping from 70% in 2013 to 35% in 2025, and further to the latest 31% in 2026 (setting a new historic low).