Most Americans no longer think that college is worth the cost

Shelby Kearns:

Americans’ faith in college has reached a ten-year low, according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and NORC.

The WSJ reported results from over 1,000 respondents on Mar. 31. Since 2013, The WSJ and NORC, a data and research center at the University of Chicago, have documented the dwindling percentage of Americans who think that college is worth its cost. In the latest poll, only 42 percent of respondents say that it is.

Crushing student loan debt, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, and low graduation rates are cited by The WSJ’s report as possible reasons behind Americans’ pessimism.

Bryan Caplan, a George Mason University economist, told The WSJ that “[c]olleges have squandered a lot of good will by pushing a dogmatic left-wing religion.”