Dive Brief:
- Nearly all surveyed college students, 95%, viewed at least one type of degree or higher education credential as very or extremely valuable, according to research released Wednesday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. Among former students who had stopped out, 93% said the same.
- The survey also found that students believed their future degrees would provide a good return on investment. Nearly nine out of 10 students, 86%, said they were confident or very confident that their degree or credential would help them make enough money to live comfortably.
- These findings, released amid growing concerns about higher education’s ROI, suggest U.S. adults still see value in college and believe it will help them enter their desired careers.
Dive Insight:
Focus on the ROI of higher education has spiked along with concerns about college costs and student debt levels. Other recent surveys report student concerns about entering into a competitive job market and artificial intelligence diminishing the value of their degrees.
However, Gallup and Lumina’s annual State of Higher Education report suggests students still have confidence in college. The report is one of the sector’s largest nationally representative surveys and offers a deep look into how U.S. adults without a higher ed credential view the sector.
In October, researchers surveyed almost 14,000 people between the ages of 18 and 59 who had graduated from high school but had not earned a college degree. Of them, 6,000 students were enrolled in a postsecondary program, just under 5,000 had stopped out before earning an associate or bachelor’s degree, and about 3,000 had never enrolled in college.
Across all three groups, 72% of respondents said a two- or four-year degree is just as important — or even more so — to career success today than it was two decades ago.
“That so many adults without a degree or credential continue to value some form of education after high school likely relates to the influence they believe higher education, and particularly degrees, can have on career outcomes,” the report said.
Among students pursuing bachelor’s degrees, 91% reported feeling confident or very confident their diplomas would teach them the skills needed to get their desired job. A strong majority of students in associate and certificate shared that confidence — 89% and 86%, respectively.
The survey’s results also could bode well for colleges seeking to enroll nontraditional students.
Following 2025, the number of high school graduates is expected to begin dropping, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. This long-anticipated decline, dubbed the demographic cliff, has forced many colleges to reevaluate their enrollment pipeline and think beyond recruiting traditional-aged students.
A third of respondents who have not attended college previously, 34%, said they were likely or very likely to pursue higher education in the next five years. That share was 57% among former students who had stopped out.
The report also found that fewer students were weighing leaving college, either temporarily or permanently, before completing their program than in previous years.
The share of students who considered stopping out has dropped from 41% in 2022 to 32% in 2024. But their potential reasons for leaving have remained largely unchanged, with students most frequently citing mental health and stress over the past few years.
Among students who considered stopping out in recent months, 49% said it was due to emotional stress and 41% cited personal mental health reasons. Almost a quarter, 24%, pointed to the cost of college and a sense of not belonging.
