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Gallup researcher: Americans still value degrees despite decade‑long drop in confidence
Summary
A Gallup senior education researcher told Midwestern attendees that public confidence in higher education fell more than 20 points since 2015 but that degrees remain widely valued; he flagged cost misperceptions, an eight‑year average breakeven and mixed campus‑climate findings.
Zakranowski, a senior education researcher at Gallup, told Midwestern Higher Education Compact attendees that public confidence in higher education has declined sharply over the past decade, but that Americans continue to place high value on postsecondary credentials and degrees.
Gallup tracking since 2015 shows a more than 20‑point drop in the share of Americans saying they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education, Zakranowski said, adding that "in 2025... we saw a 6 point rebound," which he cautioned may be noise. He emphasized a distinction between trust in institutions and belief in the value of degrees: "I've never, in my 6 years at Gallup, seen any indication that Americans' confidence in the value of a degree... is wavering."
Why it matters: declining institutional trust can alter public support, enrollment choices and political pressure on colleges and universities even when the underlying value proposition remains strong. Gallup data…
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