Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy didn’t mince words this week after learning the results of a Gallup Survey that found “those that believe a college degree is very important is down from 70% to 50%.”

Murphy tweeted: “This should be a blinking red warning light for the higher ed industry. The model is broken - too many schools today are too expensive with not enough ROI. Time for reform.”

The Gallup survey found that about half of U.S. adults (51%) consider a college education to be "very important," as of 2019,  down from 70% in 2013. Over the same period, the percentages rating college as "fairly important" and "not too important" have both increased, to 36% and 13%, respectively.  The percentage viewing higher education as “not too important” more than doubled in six years.

The survey found that younger adults are less likely than middle-aged adults and seniors to consider college as very important, women are more likely than men to report a college education is very important (57% vs. 45%, respectively), although the figures are down among both groups. In 2013, 75% of women and 65% of men said a college education was very important.

A more recent Gallup survey found that students expect higher education to equip them with the tools, knowledge and skills they need “to get a great job and have a great life.”  Graduates who say their institution was passionate about the long-term success of its students are 2.4 times more likely to be engaged in their jobs and careers and are 8.1 times more likely to be emotionally attached to their alma mater.

About a third of U.S. adults who have not completed a postsecondary degree believe higher education is available to most Americans who want it. In the 2022 State of Higher Education Study conducted by Lumina Foundation, Gallup found just 9% of noncollege Americans believe quality, affordable higher education is available to all Americans who want it, and another 21% believe it is available to most. More than two-thirds (71%) of respondents believe no more than half of Americans have access to quality education beyond high school.

Although most U.S. adults do not believe higher education is widely available, 44% of adults say a two- or four-year degree is now more important in securing a successful career than it was 20 years ago. Another 36% say it is just as important, while 20% believe it is less important.

This year’s Lumina-Gallup survey is described as having important implications for higher education.

“Amid pandemic-induced disruptions to higher education and subsequent declines in enrollment, some Americans appear to be questioning the perceived value and attractiveness of higher education. The Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2022 State of Higher Education Study reveals that most adults without a postsecondary credential doubt the widescale availability of higher education, a perhaps unsurprising finding in light of the 169% increase in the cost of college since 1980. Still, a plurality of these Americans believe higher education is a more important stepping-stone to a successful career than it has been in recent decades, providing hope for policymakers and higher education leaders as they continue to explore new approaches to making higher education affordable and accessible to all who want it.”

It seems that higher ed midway through 2022, more than two years after the pandemic’s arrival, is very much a work in progress – in public perception and reality.