What the Public Really Thinks About Higher Education

September 05, 2023 1 min read

Eric Kelderman
Chronicle of Higher Education

Excerpt: Americans today believe in the value of a college credential, but they aren’t convinced higher education is fulfilling its promise to society.

That ambivalence toward colleges — general support with some real caveats — infused responses to a national poll by The Chronicle to gauge public perceptions of higher education. The goal was to probe attitudes about the value of a degree and, beyond educating individual students, institutions’ broader activities and goals. This is the first of several stories that will explore the poll’s findings and the issues they raise.

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