Most Americans lack confidence that college is necessary to be successful, a poll published Tuesday found.
When it comes to the value of a college degree, very few people believed it was one of the factors that lead to a successful career, according to the Civic Science poll. Seventy percent of people said that having a college degree was not a factor in success. The factors that respondents considered most important for a successful career were workplace or hard skills, interpersonal or soft skills, and who you know or who you meet. Roughly half of the respondents said that those factors would lead to a successful career. (RELATED: Every Senate Democrat Voted Against Amendment To Prohibit Federal Funds For Colleges That Discriminate Against Asians)
More than two-thirds of people believe that having a college degree is not an important factor that leads to a successful career: https://t.co/l0DIGy2b8I pic.twitter.com/AOOeFoBeFC
— CivicScience (@CivicScience) April 27, 2021
The poll had 3,010 responses and was conducted between April 9 and April 16.
People with a graduate or professional degree were most likely to consider college important for a successful career, while people with a high school education and some college (no degree) were least likely to see college as important. 40% of people with a graduate or professional degree said college was an important factor compared to 22% of people with a high school education and 22% of people with some college education who said college was important.
Very few people said that they were interested in an online college degree program, the poll reported. Seventy-seven percent of respondents indicated that they were “not at all interested” in an online degree program, and just 14% said that they were “somewhat” or “very” interested. The majority of respondents – 60% – believed that an online degree program was not worth the cost. (RELATED: Joe Biden May Use Executive Action To Relieve Student Debt — Here’s What Experts Say Could Happen)
Compared to 2019, people were more pessimistic about online degree programs in 2021. In 2019, 22% of respondents indicated that they were “somewhat” or “very” interested in an online college degree program, and 72% said they were not at all interested. Fifty-five percent of people said that an online program was not worth the cost, compared to 60% who said the same in 2021.
The 2021 poll regarding interest in college degree programs had 5,545 responses and was conducted between March 12 and April 16. The same poll in 2019 had 1,923 responses and was conducted between September 19 and September 24.
The 2021 poll about whether or not an online degree was worth the cost was based on 1,878 responses and was conducted between April 9 and April 16. In 2019, the same poll had 1,521 responses and was conducted between October 30 and Nov. 6.
