This fall, Gallup reported that only 31% of Americans now say a college education is “very important”—a record low in the 48 years they’ve asked the question. As recently as 2013, 70% said the same thing.
It’s puzzling that confidence in higher education has steadily slipped when a college degree is increasingly needed for high paying jobs. And that is unlikely to change. Researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce have found that by 2031, 66% of all good jobs—those with a median income of $82,000—will go to workers with a bachelor’s degree and another 20% to those with a college certificate or associate degree.
So, if college credentials pay off, why don’t Americans believe it?
Many cite mounting student debt, which was $1.86 trillion in 2026. Recent rollbacks in COVID-era federal repayment protections have made the challenge of repaying loans more common and more visible. Making matters worse, labor market disruptions have prevented increasing numbers of recent college graduates from finding a job. A reasonable hypothesis: When debt is high and degrees don’t pan out for more graduates—even if non-graduates earn lower wages— trust in college diminishes.
But here’s why those reasons are not wholly convincing: Student debt growth sharply diminished during the years after COVID, but trust in higher education continued to decline. And trust also steadily declined when job opportunities for graduates were quite strong between the Great Recession and COVID. That suggests that something else is going on.
Other polling provides an answer. Surveys show that while students go to college for many reasons, one stands out above all others: securing a job that pays good wages. And research tells us that, while college degrees pay off on average, some degrees and certificates actually don’t lead to a better wage than earned by high school graduates.
The upshot: if colleges and universities are to regain trust, they likely need to focus on improving program value and holding down costs. Here’s how some leading community colleges and four-year universities are doing that.
Improving program value. Not every bachelor’s degree leads to a good job, and colleges need to find out which ones don’t and improve them. This work is being done by an increasing number of community colleges. Southwest Wisconsin Technical College found that 11 of its programs led to low-wage work. In agronomy, leaders learned that employers would pay more for graduates who could operate drones and apply pesticides, so they rebuilt the curriculum. The college also closed three low-wage programs it couldn’t strengthen. In Texas, Odessa College took general studies off its application for new students after finding that students in the program were far less likely to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree than students who had chosen a major, even though both groups had the same goal. Students now receive early advising, helping them choose a major connected to their interests.
Among four-year universities, the University of North Texas deserves credit for publishing how long it takes graduates to earn back what their degree costs. The median is six years, but programs differ: electrical engineering takes three years to pay off, both sociology and art education six, and a bachelor’s in psychology takes 11. UNT has set a goal of shortening the time to value for programs in which graduates have to wait longer than six years to see a return on their investment.
Every college president and senior team should take the same kind of unflinching look at their own college’s programs, then improve those that don’t pay off at all or fast enough. Too few are doing that. This does not mean shutting down arts and humanities programs. It means changing what students in history, philosophy, and music programs experience and adding skills where useful, so that many more graduate with the knowledge and experience employers need for decent-wage jobs.
Holding down costs. While improving value, colleges must accelerate efforts to reduce the amount students must invest to complete a degree. That means making sure every course students take and complete counts toward a degree. Dual enrollment is a place to start: It now puts nearly 3 million high school students in college courses, yet many of the credits students earn by completing those courses never apply to a degree. Transfer is worse. The Government Accountability Office found that students who transfer from one college to another lose about 43 percent of their credits, roughly 13 credits on average. Those students pay twice for the same classes, and they burn through financial aid doing it. Better models exist. The dual-admission ADVANCE program between George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College has significantly improved graduation rates while reducing both costs and the time students need to earn a degree.
Investing in students with financial need. Too many colleges still give financial aid to students who could afford to enroll without it in order to attract high-performing students or wealthier ones who can pay most of the sticker price. New America’s Stephen Burd found that, between 2001 and 2017, public four-year universities spent about two of every five of their financial aid dollars—at least $32 billion in all—on students who lack financial need. Every dollar spent attracting a student who would have gone to college anyway is a dollar not spent on a student who might otherwise not enroll or finish. Some institutions, including Boston University and Franklin & Marshall College, have reversed course, shifting appreciable amounts of aid towards those with greater financial need. More should follow.
Scheduling classes around students’ lives. Two-thirds of undergraduate students work while enrolled, with over a quarter working full-time. Yet at many colleges, faculty still choose when they teach, which means a lot of classes meet at 10 am and 2 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. That has to stop. Colleges should build schedules centrally, starting with what students need: enough sections of required courses, offered often enough for students to finish their degree on time, and at hours working students can realistically attend. Too many college schedules today cost students extra money and delay graduation.
Trust in higher education will not come back on its own. Colleges will need to make real, visible changes aligned to what students value most: an affordable credential that leads to a better life.
