Read our latest post for 2024 data on Americans’ views on the value of college.

Executive Summary

This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted this spring. One is a telephone survey taken among a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and universities. (See a description of our survey methodology.)

Here is a summary of key findings:

Survey of the General Public

• Cost and Value. A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend. An even larger majority—75%—says college is too expensive for most Americans to afford. At the same time, however, an overwhelming majority of college graduates—86%—say that college has been a good investment for them personally.
• Monetary Payoff. Adults who graduated from a four-year college believe that, on average, they are earning $20,000 more a year as a result of having gotten that degree. Adults who did not attend college believe that, on average, they are earning $20,000 a year less as a result. These matched estimates by the public are very close to the median gap in annual earnings between a high school and college graduate as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010: $19,550. A more detailed Pew Research Center analysis (see Chapter 5) shows that this gap varies by type of degree and field of study.
• Student Loans. A record share of students are leaving college with a substantial debt burden, and among those who do, about half (48%) say that paying off that debt made it harder to pay other bills; a quarter say it has made it harder to buy a home (25%); and about a quarter say it has had an impact on their career choices (24%).
• Why Not College? Nearly every parent surveyed (94%) says they expect their child to attend college, but even as college enrollments have reached record levels, most young adults in this country still do not attend a four-year college. The main barrier is financial. Among adults ages 18 to 34 who are not in school and do not have a bachelor’s degree, two-thirds say a major reason for not continuing their education is the need to support a family. Also, 57% say they would prefer to work and make money; and 48% say they can’t afford to go to college.
• Split Views of College Mission. Just under half of the public (47%) says the main purpose of a college education is to teach work-related skills and knowledge, while 39% say it is to help a student grow personally and intellectually; the remainder volunteer that both missions are equally important. College graduates place more emphasis on intellectual growth; those who are not college graduates place more emphasis on career preparation.
• For Most College Graduates, Missions Accomplished. Among survey respondents who graduated from a four-year college, 74% say their college education was very useful in helping them grow intellectually; 69% say it was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person; and 55% say it was very useful in helping them prepare for a job or career.
• Above All, Character. While Americans value college, they value character even more. Asked what it takes for a young person to succeed in the world, 61% say a good work ethic is extremely important and 57% say the same about knowing how to get along with people. Just 42% say the same about a college education.

Survey of Presidents

• Right or Wrong Direction? Six-in-ten college presidents say the system of higher education in this country is headed in the right direction, but a substantial minority—38%—say it is headed in the wrong direction.
• Declining Student Quality. A majority of college presidents (58%) say public high school students arrive at college less well prepared than their counterparts of a decade ago; just 6% say they are better prepared. Also, 52% of presidents say college students today study less than their predecessors did a decade ago; just 7% say they study more.

• We’re Not Number One. Only 19% of college presidents say the U.S. system of higher education is the best in the world now, and just 7% say they believe it will be the best in the world ten years from now. Most presidents —51%—describe the U.S. system as one of the best in the world.
• Doubts about Achieving Obama’s Goal. Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (64%) say it is unlikely that, by 2020, the U.S. will achieve the goal set by President Obama to have the highest share of young adults with a college degree or certificate of any country in the world.
• Who Should Pay? Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (63%) say students and their families should pay the largest share of the cost of a college education. Just 48% of the public agrees. An equal share of the public would prefer that the bulk of the cost of a college education be borne by the federal government, state governments, private endowments or some combination.
• Split Views of College Mission. Presidents are evenly divided about the main role colleges play in students’ lives: Half say it is to help them mature and grow intellectually, while 48% say it is to provide skills, knowledge and training to help them succeed in the working world. Most heads of four-year colleges and universities emphasize the former; most heads of two-year and for-profit schools emphasize the latter.
• Measuring Grade Inflation: Just over a quarter (27%) of college presidents say that the faculty at their own institution grades students too leniently. Only 1% says they grade students too stringently. The vast majority (73%) says students are graded about right.
• Scant Enthusiasm for Faculty Tenure. Only a quarter (24%) of presidents say that, if given a choice, they would prefer that most faculty at their institution be tenured. About seven-in-ten say they would prefer that faculty be employed on annual or long term contracts.

About the Surveys

This report is largely based on findings from two Pew Research Center surveys conducted in the spring of 2011.

The general public survey (GP) is based on telephone interviews conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older living in the continental United States, including an oversample of 336 adults ages 18-34. A total of 1,052 interviews were completed with respondents contacted by landline telephone and 1,090 with those contacted on their cellular phone. The data are weighted to produce a final sample that is representative of the general population of adults in the continental United States. Survey interviews were conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International, in English and Spanish. For more details, see Appendix 1.

• Interviews conducted March 15-29, 2011
• 2,142 interviews
• Margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for results based on the total sample and 4.5 percentage points for adults 18 to 34 years old at the 95% confidence level.

The college presidents survey (P) is based on a web survey conducted with 1,055 college and university presidents in the U.S. The survey was designed by the Pew Research Center in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education. Overall, 1,022 interviews were completed online and 33 interviews were completed by phone (for the presidents who requested being interviewed by phone). The college and university presidents surveyed are from four major sectors: 1) private four-year colleges and universities; 2) public four-year colleges and universities; 3) two-year public and private colleges; 4) four-year and two-year for-profit colleges and universities. The data were weighted to correct for disproportionate non-response that might bias sample estimates. The weighting accounts for both the institution type and geographic distribution of the colleges and universities eligible to take part in the survey. Survey interviews were conducted in English under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. For more details, see Appendix 1.

• Interviews conducted March 15-April 24, 2011
• 1,055 interviews
• Margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level for results based on the total sample, 4.8 percentage points for presidents of four-year public universities, 3.8 percentage points for presidents of four-year private universities, 4.6 percentage points for presidents of two-year colleges (public or private), and 11.3 percentage points for presidents of private for-profit colleges and universities.

Notes on Terminology

Unless otherwise noted, “college graduates” refers to those who graduated from a four-year college and hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

In referring to institutions of higher education, the terms “school,” “institution,” “college” and “university” are used interchangeably, except that “university” does not apply to two-year institutions.

“Private college” refers to private (as opposed to public) not-for-profit (NFP) colleges and universities. This term is not intended to apply to private, for-profit colleges.

A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide good value for the money students and their families spend, and about four-in-ten college presidents say the system is headed in the wrong direction, according to a pair of new nationwide surveys—one of the general public; the other of college presidents—conducted by the Pew Research Center.

At a time when sharply rising student debt burdens have touched off a national debate about the cost and value of a college education, the public survey shows that fewer than one-in-four Americans (22%) believe that most people today can afford to pay for a college education, down from 39% who felt this way a quarter of a century ago.

College presidents are not as concerned as the public about affordability, but their survey responses reveal broad misgivings about quality and standards—both of the institutions themselves and of the students attending them.

For example, just 19% of the 1,055 college presidents surveyed say they believe that the U.S. system of higher education is the best in the world. And just 7% say they think it will be the best in the world 10 years from now.

In addition, most college presidents (52%) say college students today study less than their predecessors did a decade ago, while just 7% say they study more. And 58% say that public high schools are doing a worse job of preparing students for college now than they did a decade ago, while just 6% say they are doing a better job.

Not all findings from the two surveys are downbeat. While a minority of the public says students get excellent (5%) or good (35%) value for the money they and their families spend on college, an overwhelming majority of the college graduates surveyed—86%—say that college has been a good investment for them personally.

The Big Payoff

Moreover, the survey shows that the public has a keen awareness of the substantial earnings dividend that college graduates enjoy in their working lives.

In response to a survey question, adults with a college degree estimated, on average, that they earn $20,000 a year more by virtue of having gotten that degree. Likewise, the survey finds, adults with only a high school diploma believe, on average, they earn $20,000 a year less as a result.

These mirror-image estimates are not only in sync with each other, they’re spot on with the relevant government data. According to 2010 Census Bureau data, the gap in median annual earnings between a worker with a high school diploma and one with a college degree is $19,550. According to a Pew Research analysis of census data, over the course of a forty-year working life, the typical college graduate earns an estimated $550,000 more than the typical high school graduate, even after factoring in the costs and foregone earnings associated with going to college.

The education-based earnings gap among workers grew steadily from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s and has been relatively stable since then (see chart to the right), according to a Pew Research analysis of census data. However, because college graduates are more likely than high school graduates to be employed, the earnings gap somewhat understates the full marketplace premium that accrues to those with a college degree. (See Chapter 5 for a detailed analysis of the differences in work life earnings by different levels of education and different fields of study.)

Beyond these dollars-and-cents evaluations, the Pew Research survey finds that college graduates, on average, are happier and more satisfied with their jobs, their financial situation and their education than are those who did not attend college. It also finds that most graduates say that their college education was very useful in helping them grow intellectually (74%), mature as a person (69%) and prepare for a job or career (55%).

College remains a near universal aspiration in this country, even in the face of steeply rising costs. Among parents of a child ages 17 or younger, fully 94% say they expect their child (or children) to attend college.

But the survey also finds that while Americans place considerable stock in the value of college, they see character traits, not education, as the most important determinants of success in life. When asked what it takes for a young person to succeed in the world, more people point to traits such as a good work ethic (61% say this is extremely important) and knowing how to get along with people (57%) than say the same about a college education (42%).

The pair of Pew Research surveys were conducted at a time when the cost of a college education—at both public and private institutions—has roughly tripled since 1980 in inflation-adjusted dollars; when more students than ever are borrowing to finance their educations; and when the typical student who graduates from a four-year college with an outstanding loan starts out with a record balance of $23,000.

The survey of the general public was conducted by landline and cellular telephone from March 15 to 29, 2011, among a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults living in the continental United States. A separate online survey of college presidents, by the Pew Research Center in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, was conducted from March 15 through April 24, 2011, among the leaders of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and universities with 500 or more students enrolled.

Here are key findings from the two surveys:

Cost and Value

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  Who Should Pay for College?

  Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (63%) say students or their families should pay the largest share of the cost of a college education; just 48% of the general public agrees. Among the public, a significant minority would prefer that the main burden be carried either by the federal government (18%), states (12%), private donations and endowments (5%) or some combination (13%). The demographic groups least likely to say that the main cost of college should be borne by students and their families include blacks, Hispanics, young adults and low-income adults.
• Most Americans Say College Students Don’t Get Good Value for the Money They and Their Family Spend… Just 5% of the public says college students receive excellent value for the money they and their families spend; some 35% say they receive good value; 42% say only fair; and 15% say poor. Views on this question are similar among those who attended college and those who did not. However, college presidents have a different view. More than three-quarters say students receive excellent (17%) or good (59%) value for the money they and their families spend on higher education. Heads of public four-year colleges are more upbeat about the cost/value trade-off (32% say it is excellent) than are heads of private four-year colleges (17% excellent).
• …But College Graduates Say It’s Been a Good Investment for Them. Among the college graduates who took the general public survey, fully 86% say that college has been a good investment for them personally; just 6% say it hasn’t; and 7% say they aren’t sure. Likewise, among the 212 survey respondents who are currently enrolled in college, 84% say they expect that the investment they and their family are making will prove to be a good one for them personally.
• Growing Concerns about Affordability. Three-quarters of the public say most people cannot afford to pay for a college education. In 1985, just six-in-ten Americans felt this way.¹ A slight majority of college presidents—57%—agree that the cost of college today is such that most people are unable to afford it.
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  The Burdens of Student Debt.

  Among all survey respondents who took out college loans and are no longer in school, about half (48%) say that paying back the loan has made it harder to make ends meet; 25% say it has made it harder to buy a home; 24% say it has had an impact on the kind of career they are pursuing; and 7% say it has delayed their getting married or starting a family.

Quality and Direction

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  Mixed Views about the Direction of Higher Education.

  Six-in-ten college presidents (60%) say the system of higher education in the United States is going in the right direction, but a substantial minority—38%—say it’s headed in the wrong direction. Also, just 9% of college presidents say the higher education system is doing an excellent job of providing academic programs that meet the needs of today’s economy; 67% say it is doing a good job; 22% say only fair; and 1% say poor.
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  We’re Not Number One.

  Just 19% of college presidents say the higher education system in the United States is the best in the world; an additional 51% say it is one of the best. When asked to look ahead, just 7% say they expect the U.S. system of higher education to be the best in the world 10 years from now, and 46% say it will be one of the best. Attitudes on these questions differ by the selectivity level of the respondents’ institution. Among presidents of highly selective colleges or universities, fully 40% say that the U.S. system of higher education is the best in the world, compared with 22% of heads of institutions of medium selectivity and 14% of heads of institutions of lower selectivity.²
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  College Presidents See Declining Student Quality.

  About six-in-ten college presidents (58%) say high schools are doing a worse job now than 10 years ago in preparing students for college; just 6% say they are doing a better job. Also, 52% of college presidents say college students study less now than they did 10 years ago; just 7% say they study more.
• About All those A’s. Some 27% of college presidents say that, at their own institution, the faculty grades students too leniently; 1% say they grade too stringently; and 73% say they grade students about right.
• Doubts about President Obama’s College Completion Goals. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of college presidents say it is unlikely that, by 2020, the U.S. will achieve the goal set by President Obama to have the highest share of young adults with a college degree or certificate of any country in the world.
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  Not Much Support for Faculty Tenure.

  The long-standing academic tradition of faculty tenure ( lifetime job security as a means of ensuring academic freedom) doesn’t get much in the way of a vote of confidence from college presidents. Only one-quarter (24%) say that, if given a choice, they would prefer that most faculty members at their institution be tenured. About seven-in-ten say they would prefer that most faculty members be on either annual (38%) or long-term (31%) contracts. Tenure is more popular among heads of public four- year institutions (50% say it is their preferred option for most faculty members) than among heads of private four-year institutions (30%). There is very little support for tenure among heads of public two-year colleges (11%) or for-profit colleges (4%).
• Heads of For-Profit Colleges the Most Downbeat. The for-profit sector of the higher education system has been growing rapidly in recent years, and its leaders have a downbeat point of view on many issues covered in the survey. A majority of them, compared with a minority of other college presidents, say the U.S. higher education system is heading in the wrong direction and that colleges offer less value for the money spent than they did 10 years ago. They are more likely than other presidents to say public high schools are doing a worse job of preparing students for college now than they did 10 years ago. Also, heads of for-profit schools are more likely than other presidents to endorse a workplace-related mission for higher education, rather than a goal of promoting intellectual growth or responsible citizenship.

Mission and Role

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  Public Has Split Views about Mission of Higher Education.

  By a small but statistically significant margin, the public says that the main purpose of a college education should be to teach work-related skills and knowledge (47%) rather than to help an individual grow personally and intellectually (39%). An additional 12% volunteer that these missions are of equal importance. College graduates tend to place more emphasis on personal and intellectual growth (52%) over career preparation (35%), while those who are not college graduates lean the other way, emphasizing career preparation (51%) over personal growth (34%).
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  Most Graduates Say College Was Very Useful on Key Goals.

  Among college graduates in the survey, 74% say their college education was very useful in helping them increase their knowledge and grow intellectually; 69% say it was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person; and 55% say it was very useful in helping them prepare for a job or career.
• Presidents See Multiple Missions for College… College presidents are evenly divided about the main role colleges play in the lives of their students; about half (51%) say it is to help them grow intellectually and mature as a person; while 48% say it is to provide skills, knowledge and training to help them succeed in the working world. These views differ by institution type. Seven-in-ten heads of four-year public and private colleges emphasize intellectual and personal growth, while about two-thirds of the heads of two-year and for-profit colleges emphasize career preparation. When asked about the most important roles that colleges play in the broader society, the presidents cite preparing students to become productive members of the workforce (40%) and responsible citizens (28%), and to ensure that all qualified students have equal access to a college education (21%).
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  …And Say Academic Programs Are the Key to Attracting Students.

  When asked to name the most important factor in their competition with other institutions to attract students, 50% of presidents say it is the strength of their academic programs, far ahead of other factors such as flexibility of academic scheduling (15%); tuition and fees (14%); quality of the faculty (8%); campus location and student amenities (7%); and quality of student life (3%).
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  For Most of Public, Character Trumps College.

  Respondents to the public survey were asked to assess how important four different character traits or personal experiences are to a young person’s success in life. Nearly all (96%) say a good work ethic is extremely or very important; 93% say that about knowing how to get along with people; and 90% say that about work skills learned on the job. Just 77% say that a college education is extremely or very important. Looking at the demographic patterns in these responses, blacks in general—and black women in particular—are more likely than other groups to see a college education as extremely important to success in life.
• Nearly All Parents Expect their Child to Go to College… Fully 94% of survey respondents who have at least one child under age 18 say they expect that child to attend college. Just over half (53%) of these parents say they’re saving to pay for their child’s education, though of this group, about half say they’re not saving enough.
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  … But Most Young Adults Don’t, Typically for Financial Reasons.

  Even with the steady rise in recent decades in college enrollment levels, the majority of young adults in this country do not attend a four-year college.³ And the main reasons, according to the Pew Research survey, are financial. Among survey respondents ages 18 to 34 who do not have a bachelor’s degree and aren’t currently enrolled in school, fully two-thirds say that a major reason they did not continue their education is their need to support their family. Some 57% say they would rather work and make money, and 48% say they can’t afford a college education. One-third (34%) say they don’t feel they needed more education, and just 5% say they didn’t continue because they weren’t accepted at the school they wanted to attend.

About the Report

The remainder of this report is organized as follows: Chapter 2 provides a look at long-term trends on college enrollment, cost and student debt, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Education and other official sources. Chapter 3 provides a detailed look at the findings of the Pew Research survey of the general public. Chapter 4 provides a detailed look at findings from the Pew Research/Chronicle of Higher Education survey of college presidents. Chapter 5 provides a Pew Research estimate of the lifetime “payoff” of a college education that weighs the cost and foregone earnings a student incurs while in college against the added earning power that comes with a college degree.

This section highlights key trends in college enrollment, attainment of college degrees, college expenses and student debt levels. It is based on data from government sources and the College Board, a not-for-profit membership organization of colleges, universities and other educational entities.

College Enrollment

In recent decades, a steadily growing share of young adults have enrolled in college. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, about one-quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in college at any given moment. By 2009, more than 40% of that age group were enrolled in college, the highest level ever recorded. Young females are more likely to be enrolled in college than young males. Young whites are more likely to be enrolled in college than their black and Hispanic peers, but college enrollment has increased for all racial and ethnic groups.

In the fall of 2009, 12.4 million students younger than age 25 were enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities. About two-thirds attended four-year institutions, and most (77%) attended public colleges and universities.

College Completion

In 2010, more than 60% of 25- to 29-year-olds had finished at least some college education (at a two-year or four-year institution), an increase from about 25% in the early 1960s. In 2010, 32% of 25- to 29-year-olds completed at least a bachelor’s degree (up from 13% in 1962) and an additional 9% had an associate degree as their highest degree completed. More young women (36%) than men (28%) complete at least a bachelor’s degree, and young whites (39%) continue to be more likely than young blacks (19%) or Hispanics (13%) to have at least a bachelor’s degree.

College Expenses

Average stated tuition and fees have roughly tripled since 1980-81, even after accounting for inflation. In 2010-11, the typical in-state full-time undergraduate was charged $7,605 in tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities (before grant aid), an increase from $2,119 in 1980-81 (all figures adjusted to 2010 dollars). Other colleges and universities have increased tuition and fees by similar orders of magnitude. Average tuition and fees at private colleges and universities increased from $9,535 in 1980-81 to $27,293 in 2010-11.

Student Debt

A growing share of undergraduates take out student loans, and a rising share of families have outstanding student loans they are paying back. In 2007, 15% of families had outstanding student loan obligations, up from 9% in 1989. The average balance was $21,500 in 2007, up from $8,700 in 1989 (all figures in 2007 dollars). Outstanding student loan debt is now about 5% of all outstanding debt in the household sector—more than double its share a decade ago.

Amid rising costs and a sluggish economy, many Americans are questioning whether a college education is good value for the money. A large majority (75%) of the public says college is no longer affordable for most Americans. And only four-in-ten say the higher education system does an excellent (5%) or good (35%) job providing value to students given the amount of money they and their families are paying for college.

While the share of adults enrolled in college has increased to record levels in recent decades, a sizable minority of young adults are still not going to college. Most point to financial barriers when asked why they are not continuing their education.

In spite of these and other misgivings among the public about higher education, nearly all college graduates (86%) say that college has been a good investment for them personally. And their incomes reflect this. Over the course of their work life, college graduates on average earn nearly $650,000 more than high school graduates, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census data.⁴

As college costs have risen in recent decades, so, too, has the share of students taking out loans to finance their education. The amount each student borrows keeps growing as well: the average borrower graduating from a four-year college today leaves school with roughly $23,000 of student debt. And as the federal government and most state governments reduce spending on higher education to help close huge budget deficits, the need for students to borrow is likely to grow over time. This will not sit well with the public; according to the survey, less than half (48%) believes that students and their families should bear the main burden of paying for a college education.

The survey also finds that the public sees higher education as having two basic missions of similar importance. Some four-in-ten say the main purpose of college should be to help an individual grow personally and intellectually, while nearly half say it should be to teach specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace.

The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education

College costs have been on the rise for the past several decades, far outpacing the rate of inflation. The increases have been particularly sharp since 2000, especially among public four-year institutions. The average cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public college or university rose from $2,119 in 1980-81 to $7,605 in 2010-11 (all figures adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars), an increase of 259%. At four-year private colleges, the average inflation-adjusted rise went from $9,535 in 1980-81 to $27,293 in 2010-11—an increase of 186%. Even the cost of two-year public colleges rose substantially over this period. In the 1980-81 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees at a two-year community college was $1,031. By 2010-11, that had increased 163% to $2,713.

Not only has a college education become more expensive, but in the eyes of most Americans, it is now out of reach. Only one-in-five adults (22%) agree that college costs in general are such that most people are able to afford to pay for a college education. Fully three-quarters of adults disagree with this statement.

Concern about the cost of college, while widespread throughout the population, is felt more acutely by some groups than others. Adults ages 50 and older are more likely than those under age 50 to question the affordability of college. Among those ages 50 and older, more than eight-in-ten disagree with the notion that most people are able to afford to pay for college. This compares with roughly seven-in-ten among those under age 50. Men ages 50 and older (many of whom may be in the midst of paying for their children’s college education) are especially concerned about college costs: 83% doubt that most people can afford to pay for college.

Adults who graduated from college and those who did not are equally skeptical about the affordability of college. And among college graduates, those who attended public institutions are just as likely as those who attended private schools to reject the idea that college is affordable for most people.

Public concern over the cost of college is not a new phenomenon. Surveys conducted in the mid-1980s and early 1990s for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education found solid majorities of the public questioning the affordability of college. Nonetheless, the percentage agreeing that “most people can afford to pay for a college education” has fallen significantly over time. In 1985, 39% of adults agreed that most people can afford a college education. By 1991, that share had fallen to 25%.

In spite of rising concerns over the cost of higher education, the public places a great deal of importance on a college degree. In a 2009 Pew Research Center survey, 74% agreed that in order to get ahead in life these days, it’s necessary to get a college education.

Even so, the higher education system as a whole gets relatively low ratings from the public for the job it is doing providing value for the money spent by students and their families. When asked to rate the higher education system in this regard, only 5% of adults say it is doing an excellent job providing value for the money students and their families are spending. An additional 35% say the higher education system is doing a good job. A majority gives the higher education system only a fair (42%) or a poor (15%) rating.

There isn’t much difference in views on this question between college graduates and those without a college degree. Among all college graduates, 44% say the higher education system is doing an excellent or good job providing value. A narrow majority (53%) gives the higher education system a rating of only fair or poor. Among those who do not have a college degree, 38% say the higher education system is doing an excellent or good job, while 57% say it is doing only a fair or poor job. These marginal differences are not statistically significant.

Opinion on this matter is consistent across racial and ethnic groups as well. Majorities of whites, blacks and Hispanics say the higher education system is doing only a fair or poor job in terms of providing value for the money spent by students and their families.

Women, who have made substantial gains in educational attainment in recent decades, have a more favorable view of the higher education system overall than do men. This gender gap is based solely on differences between men and women under the age of 50. Among women in that age cohort, nearly half (46%) say the higher education system is doing an excellent or good job providing value for the money spent. This compares with only 36% of men under age 50. More than six-in-ten men in this age group (61%) rate the higher education system only fair or poor in this regard.

Personal Evaluations

These negative assessments of the job the higher education system is doing generally do not appear to be tied to one’s personal experience with college. While more than half of college graduates say the higher education system is not doing a good job providing value for the money students and their families are spending, most of those same graduates say their investment in a college education was worth it.

When asked whether college has been a good investment for them personally, considering how much they or their family paid for it, fully 86% of college graduates say it has been a good investment. Only 6% say college has not been a good investment for them, and 7% say they are not sure.

Likewise, those who are currently enrolled in college express a strong belief that they are making a worthwhile investment. Among current college students, 84% think college will be a good investment, considering what they or their families are paying for it. Some 14% say they are not sure if it will be a good investment, and only 2% think it will not be a good investment.

Among college graduates, men and women are equally likely to say college has been a good investment for them. Recent college graduates (those under age 30) are nearly as likely as those over age 30 to say college has been a good investment. One key factor that correlates with attitudes about the investment value of a college education is annual household income. College graduates with an annual income of less than $50,000 are less likely than those making $50,000 or more to say college has been a good investment (73% vs. 91%).

In addition, college graduates who went on to pursue graduate or professional school are among the most likely to say their investment in college has paid off. More than nine-in-ten adults with some graduate experience (93%) say college was a good investment for them. This compares with 82% of those with a bachelor’s degree who did not go on to graduate school and 72% of those with an associate degree.

The public is correct in its assessment that a college education is a good investment, at least in economic terms. Research has shown that college graduates have much greater earning potential than do those without a college degree and that, in fact, over the course of a work life, the gap in overall earnings between the typical college graduate and the typical high school graduate is estimated to be $650,000.⁵

The public’s collective judgment about the worth of a college degree is quite accurate. Survey respondents who have no formal education beyond high school were asked to estimate how much more they would earn each year if they had a college degree. While one-in-four (24%) say they would earn about the same amount as now, a large majority say they would be making considerably more money. More than one-third (37%) say they would be making between $10,000 and $20,000 more a year, and 27% say their incomes would be at least $30,000 higher each year. Overall, the median of all responses is $20,000.

In the same survey, respondents who have a four-year college degree and did not go on to graduate school were asked how much less money they thought they would make a year if they did not have their degree. The median response among this group was also $20,000. Four-in-ten (39%) say they would be making between $10,000 and $20,000 less each year without their degree, and 27% estimate their annual income would be at least $30,000 less each year.

How many Americans are able to take advantage of these benefits? According to 2009 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, less than a third (30%) of adults ages 25 to 64 have a four-year college degree. Among that same age group, 19% have a bachelor’s degree only while 11% have an advanced degree. A similar share (31%) attended college but do not have a four-year degree. This includes 8% who have an associate degree. Four-in-ten have a high school diploma or less.

The Pew Research survey asked respondents from all educational backgrounds how satisfied they are overall with their education. Half of all adults ages 18 and older say they are very satisfied with their education. An additional 32% are somewhat satisfied, 10% are somewhat dissatisfied and 5% are very dissatisfied.

Whites (53%) are more satisfied with their education than are blacks (42%) or Hispanics (42%). Hispanic women are among the least satisfied (15% are very dissatisfied). But overall, men and women are equally satisfied with their education.

Satisfaction with education is strongly correlated with level of academic attainment. Adults who have an undergraduate degree and have gone on to graduate school are the most highly satisfied with their education—90% say they are very satisfied. Among those with a four-year college degree who did not go on to graduate school, 72% are very satisfied. Satisfaction drops off sharply from there. Among those who attended college but did not receive a bachelor’s degree, 41% are very satisfied, and among those who have no formal education beyond high school, 38% are very satisfied.

Why Not Go to College?

While college enrollment rates have risen steadily in recent decades, there remains a sizable share of young people who do not graduate from college. Among survey respondents ages 18-34, 48% did not have a bachelor’s degree and were not currently enrolled in school.

These respondents were asked why they have not continued their education. For most of them, the reasons are economic. Two-thirds (67%) say they have not continued their education because they need to support their family. Nearly six-in-ten (57%) say they would rather work and make money than go to school. And 48% say they cannot afford to continue with school.

Relatively few (34%) say they do not need more education to pursue their chosen career. And only 5% say the reason they have not continued their education is that they were not accepted to the schools they wanted to attend.

These young people who are not on the college track are disproportionately Hispanic. Among Hispanics ages 18-34, roughly two-thirds (65%) do not have a college degree and are not currently in school. This compares with 47% of blacks and 45% of whites in the same age group. Those not on the college track are also more likely to come from low-income households. Among those younger than 35 with annual household incomes of less than $30,000, 59% do not have a college degree and are not currently enrolled. This compares with only 35% of those who come from households with incomes of $50,000 or higher.

Although they didn’t graduate from college, these young people are nearly as likely as those who do have a degree to say a college education is important in helping a young person succeed in the world today. Among those ages 18-34, 71% of those without a college degree and 82% of those with say a college education is extremely or very important in helping a young person succeed.

Paying for College

For the millions of young Americans and their parents facing the challenge of financing a college education, the question of who pays, and how much, is vital. Even though roughly two-thirds of currently enrolled college students receive some type of financial assistance, a growing share of college graduates are leaving school with a significant amount of debt.

The public believes that college students and their families bear a large responsibility when it comes to paying for their education. However, they also see a significant role for state and federal governments as well as private sources of funding. When asked who should pay the largest share of a student’s overall college expenses, 48% of adults say it should be the students and their families. Three-in-ten say it should be either the federal (18%) or state (12%) government. Only 5% say private donors or endowments should cover most of the cost of college. The remainder either says it should be some combination of these sources (13%) or they do not know (4%).

At a time when the federal government and most state governments are under intense pressure to reduce spending in a variety of areas, the public is resistant to the idea of major cuts in educational support. In a survey conducted earlier this year by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 62% of the public said they would like to see the federal government increase spending on education in the coming year. And when asked specifically about steps their state might take to balance its budget, only 31% of respondents favored decreasing funding for public colleges and universities. Fully two-thirds said their state should not decrease funding for higher education.⁶

There are significant differences across race, age and socioeconomic status on the question of who should pay for the bulk of a student’s college expenses. A majority of whites (57%) believe that students and their families should pay the largest share of a student’s college expenses. Only one-in-five whites (22%) say the federal or state government should pay the largest share. The balance of opinion is nearly reversed among blacks and Hispanics. Roughly half of blacks (47%) and Hispanics (52%) say federal and state government should pay the largest share of a student’s college expenses. Only three-in-ten say students and their families should be primarily responsible (31% of blacks and 27% of Hispanics).

Younger adults are much more likely than their older counterparts to say government should play a central role in financing students’ educations. Among those under age 30, 46% say federal or state government should pay the largest share of a student’s college expenses. This compares with 32% of those ages 30-49 and only 20% of those ages 50 and older.

And not surprisingly, income is also linked to views about who should pay for college. More than four-in-ten of those with annual household incomes less than $30,000 say government should pay the biggest share of a student’s college education. Among those with annual incomes in excess of $75,000, only 17% share this view.

Among those who have gone to college, most say either they themselves (28%) or their parents (27%) paid for most of their educational expenses. Roughly one-in-five (22%) say they received scholarship money or financial aid that covered most of the costs, and 17% say they relied mainly on student loans that they had to pay back later.⁷

College graduates are much more likely than those who attended school beyond high school but did not earn a four-year degree to report that their parents paid most of their college expenses. Among four-year college graduates, 35% say their parents paid. This compares with only 17% among those who did not graduate from a four-year college. Fully a third of those who did not graduate from college say they paid most of their educational expenses themselves, compared with 24% of college graduates.

Student Loans and the Burden of Debt

While 17% of adults with some postsecondary experience say they relied mainly on student loans to finance their education, a much larger share of students take out loans to pay for some portion of their college education.

As college costs have risen, the share of students borrowing money to pay for college has increased substantially. According to a Pew Research analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the share of degree recipients who took out loans to finance their education increased from 52% in 1996 to 60% in 2008.⁸ This represents the share who borrowed for all types of schools, ranging from for-profit certificate programs to not-for-profit, four-year baccalaureate programs.

The rate of borrowing is significantly higher among students who received degrees or certificates from for-profit schools. Nearly all of those students (95%) took out loans to pay for their education. This compares with 72% of students who received their degree from a private, not-for-profit school and 50% who borrowed to attend a public college or university. Overall, students who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2008 were much more likely than those earning an associate degree to have borrowed money (66% vs. 48%).

Not only has the share of students borrowing for college increased, but the average amount of money those students are borrowing has also risen substantially. The average student borrower who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2008 left school owing more than $23,000. This is up from roughly $17,000 in 1996. Among borrowers who earned an associate degree in 2008, the average level of debt exceeded $13,000 (nearly double the average in 1996).

While the burden of student debt is substantial, its impact does not seem to be crushing. A majority (63%) of survey respondents who reported having taken out loans to finance their postsecondary education say they have paid back all of those loans. Roughly 35% say they are still paying their loans back or have deferred payment.

All of the borrowers were asked what kind of impact having to pay back their student loans has had on them personally. Roughly half (48%) say having to pay back their student loans made it harder for them to pay other bills and make ends meet. Beyond that, relatively few borrowers report major upheaval in their life as a result of having to pay back student loans. One-in-four say paying back their student loans has made it harder for them to buy a house. Roughly the same proportion (24%) says it has had an impact on the kind of career they are pursuing. And 7% say having to pay back student loans has delayed their getting married or starting a family.

Kids, College and Saving

Given the rising cost of college, saving for a child’s education has become a daunting task for many parents. Being able to pay for a child’s education is an important long-term financial goal for most parents of school-aged children. Among all parents with at least one child under age 18, eight-in-ten say this is an extremely important (35%) or very important (45%) goal.

In the eyes of parents, being able to pay for their children’s college education is just as important as being able to own a home or live comfortably in retirement. And it’s more important than being able to leave an inheritance to their children.

Mothers and fathers place roughly the same degree of importance on being able to pay for their children’s college education. Black parents (55%) are more likely than white (31%) or Hispanic (35%) parents to say this is extremely important.

A parent’s own educational background does not have a significant impact on the importance they place on being able to provide for their children’s educational needs. Parents who never attended college are just as likely as those who earned a four-year college degree to say being able to pay for their children’s college education is extremely important.

The vast majority of parents expect that their children will pursue a college education. Among those with one or more children under age 18, 94% expect at least one of their children will go to college. There are no significant differences across racial or ethnic groups—white, black and Hispanic parents are equally likely to think their children will go to college. In addition, there is very little variance across income groups. While 99% of parents with annual household incomes of $75,000 or higher think their children will go to college, 93% of those with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 say the same, as do 91% of those making less than $30,000 a year. Again, parents’ own educational experience does not seem to influence the aspirations they have for their children. Parents who did not graduate from college (93%) are just as likely as college graduates (97%) to say their children will go to college.

Of those parents who think their children will go to college, roughly half (53%) say they have started saving. Here there are some significant differences across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. White parents (58%) who think their children will go to college are more likely than black (39%) or Hispanic (42%) parents to say they have saved or invested money for those educational expenses.

The higher the parents’ household income, the more likely they are to have started saving for their children’s college education. Among parents who think their children will go to college, nearly seven-in-ten (68%) of those with incomes of $75,000 or higher say they have already started saving. This compares with only a third of parents with annual incomes of less than $30,000. In addition, two-thirds of parents who graduated from college (66%) say they have saved or invested money for their children’s college education, compared with fewer than half (47%) of parents who do not have a college degree.

Among those parents who have started saving for their children’s college education, a small majority feel pretty good about the progress they have made. Some 11% say they are ahead of where they think they should be at this point, and 42% say they are just about where they should be. At the same time, however, 46% say they are behind where they should be in terms of the progress they have made in saving for their children’s college expenses.

The Mission of Higher Education

Amid the rising cost of college and the changing demands of the economy, what is the mission of higher education today? Is it to promote personal and intellectual growth or is it to prepare an individual for a career? The public is divided over this question but leans a bit more heavily toward seeing college as a training ground for work. When asked what the main purpose of college should be, 47% say it should be to acquire specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace, 39% of adults say it should be to help an individual grow personally and intellectually.

A person’s educational background is strongly linked to views about the mission of higher education. Individuals who have pursued graduate studies beyond college are among the most likely to say the purpose of college should be to help an individual grow personally and intellectually. They choose this option over teaching skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace by a more than two-to-one margin (56% vs. 26%). College graduates who have not gone to graduate school also choose personal and intellectual growth over specific skills and knowledge, although they are more evenly divided. Half say that individual growth is more important, and 40% say learning skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace is what matters most.

Those who have not graduated from a four-year college have a different opinion about the main purpose of college. They are more likely than those who have a bachelor’s degree to say that college should prepare an individual for work. Among those who attended some college or had some vocational training beyond high school, 45% say the main purpose of college should be to teach specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace. Four-in-ten (39%) say the purpose of college should be to help an individual grow personally and intellectually. Adults who have a high school diploma or less are even more likely to see college as a place to learn specific skills and knowledge. More than half (55%) say the mission of college should be to prepare in individual for work; only 31% say personal and intellectual growth should be the objective.

What has been the real-world experience of college graduates: Has college prepared them best for life or prepared them best for work? As it turns out, college graduates are more likely to say their college education helped them to grow intellectually and personally than they are to say it helped prepare them for a career. Among all college graduates, 74% say their college education was very useful in terms of increasing their knowledge and helping them to grow intellectually. More than two-thirds (69%) say college was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person. Only 55% say college was very useful in preparing them for a job or career.

Graduates of two-year colleges are less likely than those who graduated from four-year colleges to point to the personal and intellectual benefits of college. Among those with an associate degree, 61% say college was very useful in increasing their knowledge and helping them to grow intellectually. Only 57% of two-year graduates say college helped them grow and mature (compared with 69% of four-year graduates). When it comes to preparing students for a job or career, four-year and two-year college graduates make similar assessments about the value of college. Just over half say it was very useful in this regard.

Succeeding in the World Today

According to most adults, to succeed in the world today, a young person needs a college education. But that’s not all they need. In fact, in the public’s view, there are other things that are even more important. When asked how important a college education is in helping a young person succeed, 42% of adults say it is extremely important. An additional 35% say a college education is very important, and 22% say it is either somewhat important or not too important.

In the public’s view, however, certain character traits are even more important. Six-in-ten adults (61%) say a good work ethic is extremely important in helping a young person succeed in the world today. Nearly as many (57%) say knowing how to get along with people is extremely important. And some 43% say work skills learned on the job are extremely important—putting this on par with a college education in terms of its importance in helping young people succeed.

Interestingly, college graduates and those without a college degree do not differ dramatically on the question of what it takes to succeed in the world today. Four-year college graduates are somewhat more likely than those without a bachelor’s degree to say a good work ethic is extremely important in helping a young person succeed (68% vs. 58%). When it comes to having a college degree, college graduates are only slightly more likely than non-graduates to say this is extremely important (47% vs. 40%).

Women place more importance than men on having a good work ethic and knowing how to get along with people. However, men and women do not differ over the importance of having a college degree. Whites and blacks place more importance than Hispanics on having a good work ethic, knowing how to get along with people and work skills learned on the job. Blacks stand out in terms of the value they place on higher education. More than half (55%) say having a college degree is extremely important in helping a young person succeed in the world today. This compares with 41% of whites and 39% of Hispanics. This racial divide is driven mainly by the views of black women, 61% of whom say having a college education is extremely important.

Does More Education Mean More Satisfaction with Work?

Most adults who have a job are satisfied with their work. However, higher education does seem to enhance a person’s work life—making it more satisfying, more interesting, and much more lucrative. Overall, 45% of employed adults say they are very satisfied with their current job or career. An additional 37% are somewhat satisfied, and 17% are dissatisfied (10% somewhat, 7% very). College graduates are significantly more satisfied with their work when compared with those who have not graduated from college. Among all graduates of a four-year college, 55% are very satisfied with their work. Only 40% of non-graduates say the same.

The happiest workers are those who pursued graduate studies beyond college. Among those with some graduate school experience, 69% are very satisfied with their current job. College graduates who did not go on to graduate school are only marginally more satisfied than those with less education. Men who attended graduate school are among the most satisfied with their work. Roughly three-quarters (74%) say they are very satisfied with their current job. This compares with 62% of women who went to graduate school.

Not only are they more satisfied with their work, but college graduates are also more likely than non-college graduates to report that their work is interesting. Again, it is the college graduates who pursued graduate studies who stand out in this regard. Nearly seven-in-ten (68%) of those with at least some graduate-level education say their work is very interesting. This compares with 53% of those with a four-year college degree who did not go on to graduate school and 49% of those without a four-year college degree.

Many American workers feel they are overqualified for their jobs. Overall, four-in-ten employed adults say they have more qualifications than their current job requires. Half say they have the right amount of qualifications, and 9% say they are under qualified. Among all college graduates, 33% say they are in a job that does not require a college degree. Those who have had some graduate training beyond college are less likely to find themselves in this situation—only 17% say they are working in a job that does not require a college degree. However, among four-year college graduates who did not go on to graduate school, 42% say their job does not require a college degree.

Not surprisingly, those who never attended college or fell short of attaining a degree are not likely to be in jobs that require a college degree. Among all those without a college education, a sizable minority say that not having a degree has held them back from pursuing certain employment opportunities. Three-in-ten say they have wanted to apply for a job but did not because they lacked a college degree; 13% say they have applied for a job and been turned down because they did not have a college degree.

Education and Economic Well-Being

A majority of Americans (67%) are satisfied with their personal financial situation, though relatively few are very satisfied. Higher education is linked to greater financial satisfaction. Adults with college or postgraduate education are more likely to say they are “very satisfied” with their financial situation than are those with less education.

Financial satisfaction is also linked to employment status. Some 71% of employed adults say that they are satisfied with their financial situation, compared with 54% who are not employed. According to the survey, 73% of adults who have a four-year college degree are employed, versus 56% of adults who do not have a college degree.

Aside from the satisfaction differences due to employment status, employed adults with a higher education show a higher level of personal financial satisfaction than their less-educated counterparts. Among employed adults, 80% who have a college degree are satisfied with their personal financial situation, compared with 67% of adults who do not have a college degree.

When asked to compare their own standard of living to that of their parents at similar ages, 61% of Americans say that their standard of living is better and 23% say that it is about the same. This intergenerational upward mobility does not vary by a person’s educational attainment. Adults who attended graduate school are about as likely to say they are doing better than their parents (65%) as are those with some college education (62%) or even those with a high school education or less (58%).

Looking toward the next generation, nearly half of all adults (48%) think their children will surpass themselves in terms of standard of living, and two-in-ten (19%) think that their children will have the same standard of living as they have now.

Adults with the least education—those with a high school diploma or less—are the most optimistic. More than half of them (54%) think their children’s standard of living will be better than theirs, followed by half of those with some college education. In contrast, only 35% of adults with graduate school experience believe their children will do better than themselves, as do 42% of adults with a college degree who did not go on to graduate school.

At the same time, adults with a college or postgraduate education are more likely than those with less education to believe that their children’s standard of living will be similar to their own.

Adults with an associate degree are a somewhat of an anomaly. Compared with those who are less educated, these graduates of two-year colleges are less likely to say that their children’s living standards will surpass their own but more likely to say that their children will be worse off than they are. Specifically, 17% of associate degree holders expect that their children’s standard of living will be “much worse” than theirs, which is significantly higher than most adults, except for those with a high school education or less (11%).

Survey respondents were asked to describe themselves in terms of the social classes, and slightly over half of the adults (52%) describe themselves as “middle class.” One-in-five (19%) identify themselves as upper class or upper-middle class, and the rest (27%) think of themselves as lower-middle or lower class.

Education is closely related to how people see themselves on the socioeconomic ladder, especially at the top and bottom rungs. Relatively equal shares of the adults at each education level identify themselves as “middle class.” However, those who have attended graduate school are most likely to put themselves in the “upper class” category (41%), followed by college graduates who did not go on to graduate school (28%). Meanwhile, those who are without a college degree are more likely to identify themselves as “lower class” than the rest of adults.

Education, income and social class are closely related to each other. According to the survey, 56% of adults with a postgraduate education and 41% of adults with a college education have an annual family income of $75,000 or more, compared with only 23% of adults with some college education and 11% of adults with a high school education or less.

The nation’s college and university presidents give a mixed report card to the higher education system they lead, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education. On questions about the general direction of U.S. higher education, its rank among world systems, its affordability and its value, most college and university presidents do not give top marks. A notable share gives poor grades.

The online survey was taken from March 15 to April 24, 2011, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public and for-profit colleges and universities.

It finds that a sizable minority of respondents—38%—say the U.S. higher education system is headed in the wrong direction. Only one-in-five (19%) say it is the best in the world today, and an even smaller share (7%) believe it will be so in a decade.

The survey reveals a range of views about the main role of higher education in society. A plurality of 38% of presidents say that role is to prepare students to be productive members of the workforce,⁹ while 27% say it is to prepare students to be responsible citizens and 21% say it is to ensure that all qualified students have equal access to a college education.

When asked about higher education’s most important role in the lives of students, the presidents are evenly split between the 50% who say it is to provide education for intellectual or personal growth and the 48% who emphasize work- and career-oriented goals.¹⁰

On a question about the cost of college, some 57% of college presidents say most people cannot afford a college education today, a smaller share than the proportion of the general public (75%) that says the same. And on a question about the value that higher education provides for the money spent by students and their families, three-quarters say the value is good (59%) or excellent (17%).

The presidents also were asked about a range of issues at the center of ongoing debates about higher education—including student quality, the role of athletic programs and the system of faculty tenure. Other survey questions focused on how their institutions should be judged by students and the public, as well as what they consider important in deciding whether a student should be admitted to college.

The presidents surveyed represent all sectors of U.S. higher education, and their responses were weighted to reflect the share of institutions in the survey that are private four-year colleges and universities, public four-year colleges and universities, two-year colleges (overwhelmingly public) and for-profit institutions.¹¹ This breakdown is somewhat different from what it would have been if responses had been weighted by student enrollment in each sector. For example, four-year public colleges account for 19% of the survey universe, but 38% of total enrollment.

On some (but not all) of the survey questions, there are differences in responses among presidents of different types of institutions. Generally, leaders of the growing for-profit sector are the most downbeat about the higher education system and its students. And on some questions, presidents of four-year public universities—many of them facing reduced financial support from budget-strapped state governments—are notably more negative than their counterparts at private universities.

State of Higher Education

Nearly four-in-ten college and university presidents (38%) say the U.S. higher education system generally is headed in the wrong direction; 60% say it is headed in the right direction. There are differences on this question among leaders of public, private and for-profit institutions.

Presidents of for-profit schools, a small but fast-growing sector of the U.S. higher education system (it makes up 18% of all institutions in the survey), are the most negative. Two-thirds (65%) say the higher education system is headed in the wrong direction, while majorities of presidents of four-year and two-year not-for-profit institutions say the system is headed in the right direction.

Still, even among presidents of public and private institutions, a notable share say higher education is headed in the wrong direction. This includes 35% of the presidents of four-year private institutions, 33% of the presidents of four-year public institutions and 30% of the leaders of two-year colleges.

As will be seen later in this chapter, presidents who say higher education is headed in the wrong direction are also more likely to have gloomier views about the quality of college students and the value colleges provide to students for the money they and their families spend.

Best in the World?

Only one-in-five presidents (19%) say the U.S. higher education system is the best in the world. A narrow majority—51%—say it is one of the best, and an additional 17% say it is above average. One-in-ten (10%) say it is average, and 1% say it is below average. “One of the best” is the majority choice among presidents from all sectors except for-profit institutions, where it is the plurality choice. As for the future, presidents are even less optimistic: Only 7% predict that the U.S. education system will be the best in the world a decade from now.

Presidents of for-profit schools (8%) and of two-year schools (13%) are less likely than other presidents to say the U.S. system is the best in the world. Among presidents of four-year schools, 25% of the presidents of private institutions and 30% of the presidents of public institutions say the U.S. system is the world’s best.

Fully 23% of for-profit college and university presidents and 14% of two-year college presidents say the U.S. system is just average. Only 3% of the presidents of four-year public or private institutions say so.

Among presidents of four-year and two-year public and private institutions, the majority or plurality predicts the U.S. system will be the best or one of the best in a decade. Among presidents of for-profit schools, only 32% say it will be the best or one of the best in the world.

Again, presidents of for-profit and two-year colleges are more likely than presidents of private and public four-year institutions to predict that the U.S. system will be average or below average. Responses of more than a third (34%) of for-profit presidents fall into those categories, compared with 21% of two-year college presidents, 9% of four-year private school presidents and 12% of four-year public school presidents.

Obama Goal

President Obama has set a goal that by 2020 the United States should have the world’s highest share of young adults (ages 25 to 34) with college degrees or two-year certificates. Most college presidents (in all categories of institution) say achieving that goal is not likely.

In his 2009 State of the Union speech, Obama cited the growing number of occupations that require more than a high school diploma. The nation, he said, “needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

According to Current Population Survey figures cited by the U.S. Department of Education, 42% of 25- to 34-year-olds had completed at least an associate degree in 2010. However, “to reclaim America’s lead will likely require 60% of young adults to earn an associate or baccalaureate degree by 2020,” according to the department.¹² As the accompanying table shows, the United States trails some other developed nations by this metric.

Among all college presidents, 50% say attaining Obama’s goal of having the world’s largest share of college graduates is “not too likely” and 14% say it is “not at all likely.” Only 3% say it is “very likely” the U.S. will meet this standard, and 32% say it is “somewhat likely.” Among presidents of all types of institutions – for profit or non-profit, or two-year or four-year schools—a majority are skeptical about meeting this goal.

Role in Society

Queried about the most important role of higher education in society, presidents split their votes between preparing students to be productive members of the workforce and preparing them to be responsible citizens. Among all presidents, 38% say the workforce role is most important and 27% say the citizen role is most important. Ensuring that all qualified students have equal access to higher education is deemed the most important role by 21%.

There is wide variation by sector on this question. The share of college presidents choosing workforce development as the most important role ranges from 23% of private four-year college presidents to 63% of for-profit college presidents (the only group in which a majority chooses this role as most important).

The role of preparing students to be responsible citizens is chosen as most important by 48% of private four-year college and university presidents and 8% of for-profit college presidents.

Presidents of schools with religious affiliations are more likely than other presidents to choose the role of preparing students to be responsible citizens (57% to 20%). They are notably less likely than other presidents to say the most important role of higher education is to prepare students to be productive members of the workforce (17% to 43%).

Specific Roles

Presidents also were asked to evaluate seven specific roles for higher education in society on a scale ranging from “not at all important” to “very important.” A majority say it is very important for higher education to conduct research to solve national problems (54%), as well as to prepare students for the workforce (74%) or to be responsible citizens (73%) and to ensure equal access to higher education (72%).

Half (52%) say it is very important for institutions to contribute to the economic development of their region or locality. Providing continuing education for adults of all ages is deemed very important by 37% of presidents, and 17% say the same about providing cultural events and enrichment to the surrounding community.

There are notable differences among education sectors on these measures. Conducting research and training responsible citizens both are very important to most public and private college presidents, but less so among for-profit college presidents.

Most public and private college and university presidents agree that it is very important for institutions to conduct medical, scientific, social and other research to help solve national problems, but only 30% of for-profit college presidents say so. For-profit college presidents and two-year college presidents are more likely than presidents of four-year public and private institutions to say that developing productive members of the workforce is very important.

On the question of contributing to the economic development of their community or region, most presidents of public four-year institutions and of two-year colleges (the majority of them public institutions) say this is very important, but only a minority of the heads of private four-year schools and for-profit institutions say the same.

Sponsoring cultural events and enrichment for the surrounding community is notably less important to for-profit college presidents than to the heads of other institutions. Providing continuing education is more important to two-year college presidents than to four-year college presidents.

Value to the Economy

Given the importance that many presidents place on training students to be productive members of the workforce, how good a job do the presidents think higher education is doing in providing academic programs that meet the needs of today’s economy? Most college and university presidents give a good rating, but few give an excellent rating (9%). Most say this level of performance has not changed in the last decade.

On this question, there is a notable difference between presidents of public and private and for-profit institutions. At least eight-in-ten presidents of private or public institutions, be they four-year or two-year, give an excellent or good rating to higher education’s performance in meeting today’s economic needs. However, only half the presidents of for-profit institutions rate higher education as doing an excellent (3%) or good (47%) job on this front.

On the question of whether the relevance of academic programs to the needs of the economy has grown in the past decade, most college and university presidents in all sectors of institution say there has been no change. Overall, 60% say the performance in this area is the same as it was a decade ago, 25% say it is better than 10 years ago and 15% say it is worse.

However, presidents of four-year public institutions and two-year institutions are more likely than the heads of private and for-profit schools to say the situation has improved in the past decade. Presidents of for-profit institutions (23%) are more likely than heads of four-year public or private schools to say the performance has worsened.

Role in Lives of Students

There is a long-running debate in the higher education world over whether its main role in the lives of students should tilt more toward personal and intellectual growth or toward preparation for the world of work. In this survey, presidents were offered a range of choices from both realms.

Asked to choose among five options for which role is most important in the lives of students, a plurality (44%) chooses providing a broad-based education, followed by general skills and knowledge for the working world (27%) and training for a specific career or profession (13%). Helping students improve earnings potential (8%) and promoting personal growth and maturity (6%) were chosen by a smaller share.

Combined, the two intellectual-personal roles are chosen by 50% of presidents and the work-oriented goals are chosen by 48% of presidents.

Presidents also were asked to assess the importance of each role, from “not at all important” to “very important.” More than eight-in-ten say it is very important to provide a broad-based education that promotes intellectual growth (81%) and to provide skills and knowledge that will be of general value in the working world (86%). Three-quarters (75%) say it is very important to promote personal growth and maturity. More than half (58%) say it is very important to help students improve their future earnings potential, and half (50%) say it is very important to provide training for a specific career or profession.

Differences by Type of President

However, there are notable differences among different sectors of college and university presidents who select each goal, which reflects differences in each sector’s own mission. About two-thirds (64%) of the combined presidents of four-year public and private institutions say a broad-based education is the most important goal. Less than a third (29%) of the presidents of two-year colleges say so, as do only 13% of the heads of for-profit institutions. The goal chosen most often by two-year college presidents as most important is providing skills and knowledge of general value in the working world (37%). The heads of for-profit schools are equally likely to choose general preparation for the working world (33%) and training for a specific career or profession (32%) as most important.

Among presidents of schools with a religious affiliation, 64% say a broad-based education is most important, compared with 39% of the presidents of nonaffiliated schools.

Costs and Benefits

There is growing public concern about whether a college education is affordable for most Americans. As seen earlier in this report, although most college presidents (57%) say college is not affordable for most people, an even higher share of the general public says so. Four-in-ten (42%) presidents say it is affordable.

Looking at differences by sector, 65% of the presidents of two-year colleges say higher education is not affordable for most people, compared with 35% who say it is. Among presidents of four-year private colleges, 44% say that college is affordable and 56% say it is not. Among presidents of four-year public institutions, 53% say that college is affordable and 47% say it is not. Among presidents of for-profit schools, 42% say that college is affordable and 58% say it is not.¹³

Answers also vary by whether the share of students receiving financial aid has risen at the president’s institution. Among presidents of schools where the share of students receiving financial aid has not changed in the past decade, 53% say college is affordable for most people. Among presidents of schools where more students receive financial aid than did so a decade ago, 60% say most people cannot afford college costs. There are no significant differences between presidents of institutions by the share of students receiving financial aid, typical level of student debt or amount of tuition and fee increases in recent years.

Overall, college presidents are quite accurate in estimating average student debt. Among four-year college graduates, the average student with outstanding debt owes more than $23,000.¹⁴ As a group, the median estimate among presidents of four-year institutions is $22,599.

Good Value

Most presidents say today’s higher education system provides good (59%) or excellent (17%) value for the money spent by students and their families. A smaller share says the system provides only fair (21%) or poor value (3%).

Presidents of four-year public colleges are most inclined to say education offers excellent value—a third (32%) do, notably higher than the share of their counterparts who head private four-year colleges (17%), two-year colleges (12%) or for-profit colleges (9%).

As with other questions, presidents of for-profit schools give less favorable assessments. Nearly half (46%) say college offers only fair or poor value, compared with 25% of two-year college presidents and even smaller shares of four-year college presidents.

Most college and university presidents say higher education offers at least the same value (44%) or more value (22%) than a decade ago, but this overall rating obscures differences by sector. Presidents at four-year private (27%) and public (32%) institutions are more inclined than presidents of two-year (15%) or for-profit schools (10%) to say higher education offers greater value than a decade ago. Presidents of two-year (41%) and for-profit (57%) schools are more inclined than the presidents of four-year private (22%) or public institutions (23%) to say it offers less value.

Who Should Pay?

Generally speaking, most college and university presidents (63%) say that students or their families should pay the largest share of tuition, room and board and other college expenses at their institution. Some 22% say state government should do so, 10% say the federal government should pay the most and 2% list other preferred sources.

The responses on this question vary by sector, with more emphasis placed on government funding by the presidents of four-year public colleges and universities as well as two-year colleges (most of whom head public institutions).

Among presidents of private four-year colleges, 84% say students and their families should pay the most, as do 78% of for-profit college presidents. Among four-year public college and university presidents, 41% say students or their families and 50% say state government. Among two-year college presidents, 46% say students or their families and 39% say state government.

Assessing Students and Colleges

What are important factors in attracting students? When given a list of seven potential factors, 50% of presidents say the strength of the academic programs is the most important one in competing with other institutions to attract students. The academic program is the majority choice among presidents of four-year private schools and four-year public schools (57% each) and is chosen by 50% of the heads of for-profit schools. Among presidents of two-year colleges, a plurality (37%) says so.

Markedly smaller shares of all presidents say the most important factors are tuition and mandatory fees (14%), scheduling flexibility (15%), faculty quality (8%), campus location and amenities (7%) and quality of student life (3%). Fewer than 1% choose the athletic program. Presidents of two-year schools (21%) are more likely than other college presidents to say tuition and fees are the most important attraction for students; presidents of two-year (21%) and for-profit (25%) institutions are more likely than presidents of four-year public and private schools to say that flexible scheduling is their most important attraction for students.

Asked about the importance of each factor individually, 84% say that the strength of the academic programs is very important in competing with other institutions to attract students, and a large majority of presidents from all sectors say so. The same is true for faculty quality—80% of all college and university presidents say it is very important in attracting students, and this holds true among all sectors.

Only about half (52%) of college and university presidents say tuition and mandatory fees are a very important factor in attracting students (44% say it is somewhat important). The share saying very important is somewhat higher among two-year college presidents (60%). Similarly, 50% of all presidents say the flexibility of academic scheduling, including online or night classes, is important; that share is notably higher for two-year college presidents (72%) and for-profit college presidents (72%).

Other priorities receive greater emphasis from four-year public and private college and university presidents than from others. The quality of student life is deemed very important by 45% of all college and university presidents, but among 67% of four-year private college presidents and 57% of four-year public college and university presidents. The strength of the athletic program also is more important to four-year college and university presidents; although relatively few label it very important, 48% of four-year private college presidents and 47% of four-year public college presidents say it is somewhat important, in contrast to only 6% of presidents of for-profit colleges, most of which do not have athletic programs.

How Students Should Be Judged in the Admissions Process

What qualities or qualifications should be important in deciding whether to admit a student, assuming that academic performance already has been taken into account? Here, college and university presidents were presented with eight possibilities and asked whether they should be a major, minor or non-factor in college admissions decisions.

There is no majority vote of “major factor” for any of the eight—a student’s socioeconomic status; race or ethnicity; athletic ability; ability to pay full tuition; gender; artistic or other special talent; where the student is from; and whether the student comes from a family in which a parent or other relative attended the same school. In fact, half or more of presidents say that seven of the eight should not be a factor at all. Only “artistic or other special talent” should be a factor in admissions, according to most presidents (60%).

There is some variation by sector in the share of presidents who evaluate some qualities as at least minor factors in admissions decisions. Socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, and athletic ability should be at least minor factors in admissions among more than half of four-year private and public college presidents, though not among two-year or for-profit college presidents. Race or ethnicity, for example, should be a major (14%) or minor (48%) factor, according to nearly two-thirds of private four-year college presidents; among leaders of public four-year colleges, 13% consider it a major factor and 45% a minor factor. But among leaders of two-year schools, 66% say it should not be a factor, a sentiment shared by 77% of for-profit presidents.

Geography should be a major or minor factor, according to most four-year college and university presidents, but not others. The “legacy” factor of a previous graduate of that institution from the same family is a major or minor factor for 63% of private four-year college presidents, but not a majority among others. The ability to pay full tuition is a major or minor factor for most four-year private college presidents (60%) and half of for-profit college presidents (50%), but not others.

How Should the Public Judge Colleges?

College and university presidents have strong ideas about how they should not be judged. The survey presented them with a list of seven potential indicators for the public to use in assessing the overall quality of a college or university—accreditation, admission rates, graduation rates, national assessment tests or student engagement surveys, peer assessment surveys, popular rankings or standardized test scores.

Not one gets a majority vote as “very effective.” Accreditation draws a total of 83% when “somewhat effective (43%) and “very effective” (41%) are combined.¹⁵ Graduation rates also draw 83% when “somewhat effective” (49%) and “very effective” (34%) are combined.

Those who ranked at least one indicator as “very effective” were asked to choose which is most effective. Among all college presidents, a 35% plurality did not rank any of the indicators as “very effective” or gave no answer. One-in-four choose accreditation, 22% choose graduation rates and 9% select performance on national assessment tests or student-engagement surveys. Presidents of two-year schools are less likely than others to prefer graduation rates (14%), and more likely than presidents of four-year public or private schools to prefer accreditation (35%).

When responses to this question are analyzed only for presidents who choose more than one option as very effective,¹⁶ 37% choose graduation rates and 28% choose accreditation. An additional 15% choose performance on national assessment tests or student-engagement surveys, and 13% choose peer assessment and reputation surveys.

Contemporary Issues in Higher Education

Student Quality and Workload

When it comes to their students, presidents are somewhat gloomy about their academic preparation for college and the amount of work they do once enrolled, but most believe they are graded fairly.

In the 2011 survey, nearly six-in-ten (58%) college and university presidents say public high schools are doing a worse job than a decade ago at preparing students for college. About a third (36%) say there has been no change, and 6% say public high schools are doing a better job.

Most college and university presidents in all categories of institution say public high schools are doing a worse job than they used to do at preparing students for college. Heads of for-profit institutions are even more critical than other presidents. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of the presidents of for-profit institutions say public high school performance has worsened in the past decade, compared with 56% of the presidents of private four-year schools, 52% of the presidents of public four-year institutions and 55% of the presidents of two-year institutions.

The public and private college and university presidents are more likely than the heads of for-profit colleges to say public high school preparation for college is unchanged. Although the numbers are small, presidents of four-year public institutions and two-year colleges (8%) are more likely than the heads of four-year private colleges and universities to say public high school preparation for college has improved.

How hard do today’s college students hit the books? Most college presidents (52%) say they believe their students are studying less than students did a decade ago. Only 7% say students are studying more, and 40% say students are doing about the same amount of studying. The presidents of two-year schools (56%) and for-profit schools (62%) are somewhat more likely to say students are studying less, compared with presidents of four-year private colleges (46%) and four-year public colleges (44%).

Although most (73%) think their students receive grades that are “about right” from faculty members, more than a quarter (27%) of college presidents say students are graded too leniently. The presidents of four-year private colleges (33%) are somewhat more likely than the presidents of four-year public institutions (24%) and two-year institutions (21%) to say students are graded too leniently.

Only 1% of all presidents say students are graded too stringently.

Athletic Programs

Among heads of colleges with athletic programs, 42% of presidents say the program does not have an impact on their institution’s overall financial picture. About a third (34%) say the athletic program has a positive financial impact and a quarter (24%) says it has a negative financial impact. Only a small number of for-profit schools have athletic programs, so this question applies mainly to other sectors.

The presidents of four-year private institutions (45%) are notably more likely to say the athletic program helps their bottom line than do the presidents of public four-year institutions (28%) or two-year schools (20%). The presidents of two-year schools (32%) are more likely than the heads of four-year private institutions (18%) to say the athletic program hurts their bottom line.

In a 2005 Chronicle survey of four-year college presidents, most (59%) agreed with the general statement, “Big-time college athletics programs are more of a liability than an asset.”

Faculty Tenure

The longtime practice of granting tenure—essentially lifetime job security—to college and university faculty members has become less common in recent years. According to the 2010 Digest of Education Statistics, a rising number and share of faculty members are part timers, who often get hired on annual contracts and whose jobs depend on enrollment in any given year. The share of full-time faculty with tenure declined to 49% in 2009-2010 from 56% in 1993-94.¹⁷

Advocates say that tenure promotes a long-term commitment to scholarship, institutional governance and student mentoring. But many college administrators say a tenure-heavy faculty leaves them without sufficient staffing flexibility or power to fire unproductive teachers.

Most college and university presidents would prefer that full-time tenured faculty not be the majority at their institution, according to the survey. Only 24% say they would like most faculty members to be full-time and tenured.

On this question, there are big differences by the respondents’ institution type. Among presidents of four-year public colleges, fully half (50%) would prefer that most of their faculty be full-time and tenured, compared with less than a third (30%) of the presidents of private four-year colleges. Among this latter group, a plurality of 40% would prefer that most of their faculty be on long-term contracts.

As might be expected, the presidents of two-year colleges and for-profit schools say they prefer that most of their faculty be full timers on annual contracts (57% of two-year college presidents say so, as do 54% of for-profit college presidents).

Presidents who were faculty members before becoming administrators have greater preference for tenured, full-time faculty members (28%) than do presidents who were not professors in the past (14%).

In the Chronicle survey of four-year college presidents in 2005, a slight majority (53%) agreed with the general statement, “Tenure for faculty should be replaced by a system of long-term contracts.”

Presidents of Selective Colleges

Presidents of the nation’s most selective four-year colleges and universities are notably more upbeat about the state and future of U.S. education than are other presidents. Four-in-ten (40%) say the U.S. system is the world’s best, compared with 22% of presidents of moderately selective schools and 14% of the presidents of the least selective schools.

Three-quarters (76%) say it will be the best or one of the best in the world in 10 years, compared with 62% of the presidents of moderately selective schools and 37% of the presidents of the least selective schools.

For this analysis, only four-year institutions were included. They were divided into three selectivity levels based on ratings provided by Barron’s Profile of American Colleges 2011 that include incoming students’ high school class rank, high school grade-point average and standardized test scores, as well as the college’s acceptance rate. The Pew Research survey sample included 196 presidents of the most selective schools, 351 presidents of moderately selective schools and 150 presidents of least selective schools, which included some not listed in the Barron’s guide.

On the question about the mission of higher education, the presidents of the most selective schools are more likely than others to endorse a broad education focused on intellectual growth—73% say it is the most important role of higher education in the lives of students. They are less likely than other presidents to say it is very important that colleges provide training for a specific career or profession (15% do) or focus on skills that will help students improve their potential earnings (32%).

As for cost, slightly more than half of the presidents of the most selective schools (52%) say college is affordable for most people, a contrast to the majority of other college presidents who say college is not affordable.

These presidents of the most selective institutions are more likely than others to say that the bulk of educational expenses at their institutions are paid by students and their families (42%). But 43% say scholarships and grants are their students’ main source of funding, higher than the share of least-selective presidents who say the same (21%).

Presidents of highly selective institutions are more likely than other presidents to say students and their families get more value now for the money they spend than was the case a decade ago—36% say so. They do not differ significantly from moderately selective college presidents on the question of whether higher education currently offers excellent or good value for the money spent; both groups rate current value more highly than do presidents of the least selective institutions.

As far as judging students, the most selective college presidents disagree with others about student workload. While half of moderately selective presidents (50%) and 53% of the least selective college presidents say students are studying less than they used to, only 38% of the most selective college presidents say so.

In terms of admissions criteria for students, the presidents of the most selective institutions are more likely than other presidents to say race or ethnicity should be a major factor once academic qualifications have been accounted for (19%, with an additional 54% saying it should be a minor factor). They also are more likely to say that socioeconomic status (46%), the legacy factor of family ties to the institution (59%) and where the student is from (56%) should be a minor factor in admissions.

Not surprisingly, the presidents of the most selective institutions place more emphasis than do others on academics as an attraction to students (96% say the strength of their academic programs is very important in this regard). They also place more emphasis than other presidents on the quality of student life; 74% say it is very important in attracting students.

As for how the public should assess higher education, the presidents of selective institutions are more likely than others to say that the selectivity of a school is a somewhat or very effective means (64%). They are more likely to say standardized test scores are somewhat to very effective (70%). They also are less fond of accreditation as a metric: 34% say it is not too effective or not at all effective.

The topic of tenure also divides presidents of the most selective schools from other presidents. Among heads of the most selective schools, 58% say they would prefer that most faculty members be full-time tenured teachers. That compares with 33% of moderately selective college presidents and 11% of least selective college presidents.

Optimists and Pessimists on Direction of Higher Education

Because a notable share of college presidents say the U.S. higher education system is heading in the wrong direction, this section analyzes the differences on other questions among presidents who are negative about the direction of higher education today (“pessimists” for short) and those who have positive views about the direction of higher education (“optimists”). Overall, 38% of college presidents say the higher education system is headed in the wrong direction, while 60% say it is headed in the right direction. Heads of for profit-institutions (65%) are especially likely to be pessimists, but so are a notable share of presidents of four-year private colleges (35%), four-year public institutions (33%) and two-year colleges (30%).

Generally, pessimists on this question also have downbeat views on other broad questions on the state of higher education today, its value and the quality of students.

Pessimists are more likely than optimists to say the U.S. system is average or below average now compared with others worldwide (20% to 6%). They also are more likely than optimists to predict it will be average or below average in a decade (33% to 8%).

A lower share of pessimists than optimists say higher education today provides good value for the money spent on it (61% to 86%) by students and their families. A higher share of pessimists than optimists say it provides less value than a decade ago (48% to 26%). As far as providing academic programs to meet the needs of today’s economy, pessimists are more likely than optimists to say higher education does only a fair to poor job (43% to 11%). They are more likely than optimists to say higher education does a worse job at providing academic programs for today’s economy than a decade ago (24% to 9%).

Pessimists also are more critical of today’s students than are the optimists. Among pessimists, 66% say public high schools are doing a worse job than in the past of preparing students for college; 52% of optimists say so. Well over half–58%–say students are studying less than they used to, compared with 47% of optimists who say so.

The two groups also have somewhat different views about the role of higher education in students’ lives. Pessimists are less likely than optimists (38% to 48%) to believe the most important purpose of higher education is to provide a broad-based education that promotes intellectual growth. They are somewhat more likely than the optimists to think higher education’s most important role for students should be specific skills training or assistance in improving earnings potential.

Responses to this question are influenced by a disproportionate share of heads of for-profit institutions who are among the pessimists. For-profit presidents make up 18% of the weighted survey sample, but they account for 30% of pessimists.

There are no significant differences between pessimists and optimists on a number of survey questions, including the broad role of colleges in society and the affordability of a college education for most people.

Mission of Higher Education

What are the differences in views between college presidents who believe higher education’s most important role is in promoting intellectual or personal growth, and those who favor a role more oriented toward preparation for the world of work or specific jobs?

As noted earlier, presidents are nearly evenly split on whether intellectual growth or preparation for the world of work is the primary role. Presidents of for-profit schools are more likely to tilt toward preparation for the world of work; they account for a third (32%) of presidents who say so, even though for-profit institutions account for only 18% of the weighted survey sample.

Presidents who endorse the mission of promoting intellectual growth are more likely to say higher education in the United States is headed in the right direction (65% to 55%). They are more likely to say the U.S. system will be the best or one of the best in the world (63% to 44%). And they are more likely to say that U.S. higher education provides excellent or good value for the money students and their families spend on it (85% to 68%).

Those presidents who favor workplace preparation are gloomier about the quality of today’s students: 57% say they are studying less than students did a decade ago, compared with 46% of presidents who favor the mission of promoting intellectual growth.

Overview

The typical college graduate earns an estimated $650,000 more than the typical high school graduate over the course of a 40-year work life, according to a new analysis of census and college cost data by the Pew Research Center.

Of course, this difference doesn’t apply in all cases; some high school graduates are high earners, and some college graduates are low earners. Also, the monetary return to college is influenced by a variety of factors, including type of college attended and major field of study.

But on average—and after taking into account the fact that a dollar earned at the start of someone’s working life is more valuable than a dollar earned toward the end of that person’s working life¹⁸—the analysis finds that the typical or average high school graduate with no further education earns about $770,000 over a 40-year work life. The typical worker with a (two-year) associate degree earns about $1.0 million, and the typical worker with a bachelor’s degree and no advanced degree earns about $1.4 million.

Balanced against these work-life earnings differences are the upfront costs of time and money associated with getting a college degree. Today’s typical high school graduate ages 18 to 24 with no further education is paid about $23,000 working full time, full year. Thus, foregone earnings approach $50,000 for someone with an associate degree and approach $100,000 for someone with a bachelor’s degree, assuming that the undergraduate completes an associate degree in two years and a bachelor’s degree in four years.

The out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and fees vary significantly, depending on where the student attends college. The College Board estimates that, after student aid and federal income tax benefits are accounted for, the average tuition and fees paid is close to zero for students attending community colleges.¹⁹ For undergraduates attending in-state, public four-year colleges and universities, the College Board estimates that the average price after aid is about $1,500 per year. The typical student at a private, nonprofit four-year institution pays about $11,300 in tuition and fees per year after aid and tax benefits are considered.

When these costs of attending college and the foregone earnings are subtracted from the income benefits over the course of a lifetime, the net “payoff” from getting a college degree is still quite substantial. For a typical student who graduated from an in-state, four-year public university, this net gain is about $550,000, the analysis finds.

However, this average figure masks wide variations in the financial returns to a college education. On the benefit side of the equation, work-life earnings tend to be much higher for undergraduate majors requiring numerical competencies (computers and engineering) than other fields of study (education and liberal arts). In regard to costs, some colleges and universities have much higher tuition and fees than the typical in-state public institution. In addition, some undergraduates do not receive aid and may pay the full tuition and fees listed. About two of three undergraduates receive some form of grant aid, and the amount of grant aid tends to decline as the student’s family income increases.

Based on average earnings and cost data, some college degrees may not have generous payoffs. For example, the estimated total work-life earnings of a typical worker with a bachelor’s degree in education and no advanced degree are about $950,000. This exceeds the work-life earnings of the typical high school graduate by only $180,000. Foregone earnings alone would tally about $100,000. Four years of tuition and fees at some college and universities could exceed the remaining $80,000 benefit, particularly if the education major is from an affluent family and does not receive any grant aid or federal tax benefits.

The Pew Research estimates for work-life earnings are based on the current patterns of earnings differences by education in the most recent census data. However, returns to education in the labor market have changed over time. Extensive research on this subject shows that the payoff for a college education increased substantially during the 1980s, then, depending on the details of measurement, either increased slightly since the early 1990s or plateaued.²⁰ Whether the returns to education will decline in the future is not known. Many economists would surmise that the future course of the financial returns to schooling in part depends on how many young people pursue and complete college. If college-educated workers become relatively less scarce, the financial returns to college might decline.

Terminology for Chapter 5

“Full-time, full-year worker” refers to persons who worked at least 48 weeks in the prior year and reported usually working at least 36 hours per week.

“High school graduate” refers to a person who completed high school but did not obtain any college education. The person may have completed high school by obtaining a regular high school diploma or the equivalent (e.g., GED).

The educational attainment level “some college” refers to the completion of some college credits (regardless of the number of years) but not a higher education degree. Persons who reported that their highest education was completion of an associate degree are not included in the “some college” category.

“Professional degree” refers to a degree beyond the bachelor’s degree that fulfills the academic requirements for beginning practice in a profession. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey gives the following examples of a professional degree on the questionnaire: M.D. (medicine), D.D.S. (dentistry), D.V.M. (veterinary medicine), LL.B. or J.D. (law). The survey instructions inform respondents to “NOT include post-bachelor’s certificates that are related to occupational training in such fields as teaching, accounting, or engineering.” Though not given as examples on the questionnaire, individuals who have completed the degree required for optometry (O.D.), pharmacy (D.Phar.), chiropractry (D.C. or D.C.M.), and theological professions (e.g., M.Div.) presumably would self-report as possessing a professional degree.

“Advanced degree” holders are individuals whose highest educational attainment is a master’s degree, professional degree or doctorate.

The Big Payoff

Each year millions of college students devote significant time and expenditures to obtain a college education. Many of them enroll with the expectation of a “payoff” from their educational endeavors—that is, the monetary gains from the pursuit of higher education will outweigh the monetary costs. A prominent 2002 Census Bureau study, “The Big Payoff,” examined the accumulated earnings gains over an adult’s work life from additional education and suggested that the payoffs may be quite large. The typical worker with a bachelor’s degree was estimated to make nearly $1 million more over that worker’s work life than a high school graduate. This chapter revisits the analysis of the original Census Bureau study using more recent earnings data, revised methodology and more detail on the higher education degree. It also assesses the typical monetary costs of higher education and provides some estimates of the life-time payoffs to higher education by balancing the estimated work-life earnings gains with the upfront costs of higher education.

Work-life Earnings

The likelihood that a person lands a job and the number of hours the person works depend on the level of education. In this analysis, we ignore differences in the amount of hours that people work and concentrate on what employers are willing to pay employees who work the same amount of hours. That is, the earnings data and calculations are for “full-time, full-year” workers.

The typical young worker with a bachelor’s degree earns significantly more than the typical worker who did not pursue any further formal education beyond high school. In 2009, the average 25- to 29-year-old worker with at least a bachelor’s degree earned almost $50,000 per year. The 25- to 29-year-old who finished a high school education typically earned about $31,000. The average young worker with an associate degree earned about $37,500.

The earnings differences by education measured early in the work life do not take account of the different earnings trajectories or earnings paths of workers. The earnings of workers with lesser amounts of education tend to not grow as much as the earnings of more educated workers as their careers unfold. As a result, the difference in average earnings across education groups gets larger as workers age.

It is impossible to know how much young workers today will earn over the remainder of their work life. “Synthetic” estimates of work-life earnings calculate how much workers will earn over their work lives if their earnings path were to mirror the age profile of the most recent data snapshot. In other words, today’s young workers are assumed to eventually earn what today’s older workers earn.

Length of work life might vary by education, but typically a 40-year work life is assumed, and estimates of work-life earnings are based on full-time, full-year earnings from ages 25 to 64 (Census Bureau, 2002; Baum, Ma and Payea, 2010). Assuming that work life commences by age 25 seems reasonable for most workers. Most people with at least a bachelor’s degree obtain the degree before age 25, and the modal age is 22 or younger (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Assuming completion of a bachelor’s degree at age 22, many workers with advanced degrees could commence their careers by age 25. From initial enrollment in graduate school, it typically takes a student three years to complete a master’s degree and four years to complete a professional degree (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007). For workers who have a doctorate, starting work at 25 might be a bit more problematic. It typically takes graduate students six years to complete a doctorate. But anecdotal evidence suggests that many workers with doctorates can work long beyond 64 years of age. Tenured college and university professors are no longer mandated to retire at age 70, and some work beyond 70. The estimates of work-life earnings presented here are based on the standard work span of 25 to 64 years of age.

As the figure on page 88 suggests, differences in earnings by education add up over a work life. The typical high school graduate would be expected to earn about $1.6 million over 40 years. Workers whose highest education is an associate degree earn $2.0 million, and the synthetic work-life estimate for workers with at least a bachelor’s degree is $3.3 million.

The accompanying figure updates the 2002 Census Bureau estimates, but these estimates are problematic because they assume that $1 in future earnings has the same value as $1 earned today, i.e., the future earnings were not discounted. Over a 40-year horizon, discounting makes a significant difference; the figure on the next page shows the extent to which work-life earnings estimates diminish if discounting is applied. For example, discounting future earnings at a 4% rate, the present value of what the typical worker who has completed high school but no further formal education would be expected to earn over a 40-year work life is $0.8 million. A worker with an associate degree would earn $1.0 million over 40 years, and a worker with at least a bachelor’s degree would earn about $1.6 million after discounting is applied to future earnings.

By Degree. Some of the workers who have a bachelor’s degree have also attained advanced degrees. On average, those with advanced degrees earn more than workers who have no more than a bachelor’s degree, and they have higher estimated synthetic work-life earnings. Assuming a 4% discount rate, workers whose highest degree is a bachelor’s degree earn about $1.4 million from 25 to 64 years of age. A high school graduate earns about $0.8 million over a 40-year work life, so the attainment of a bachelor’s degree typically adds about $0.6 million in earnings. Workers with a master’s degree typically earn $1.6 million from age 25 to 64, only $0.2 million more than workers who completed their education at a bachelor’s degree. A much larger addition to work-life earnings tends to be obtained by workers with a professional degree. Those with professional degrees average $2.6 million in work-life earnings, $1.2 million more than a worker with a bachelor’s degree alone and six times the gain to work-life earnings from obtaining a master’s degree.

By Undergraduate Field of Study. The monetary rewards of a college education tend to vary by undergraduate field of study as well as by the degree earned. The American Community Survey (ACS) collects data on undergraduate field of study for all persons with at least a bachelor’s degree. By broad field of undergraduate major, workers with at least a bachelor’s degree who majored in engineering earn about $1.9 million over a work life. Their counterparts with a major in education would earn on average about $1.1 million.

These work-life earnings returns by undergraduate field of study partly reflect the differing propensities of people with bachelor’s degrees to obtain advanced degrees. In 2009, about 59 million people had at least attained a bachelor’s degree. Of these, about 21 million (36%) had attained an advanced degree. The likelihood of having an advanced degree varies by undergraduate field of study. Undergraduate majors in education are the most likely to have an advanced degree (45%). People with a bachelor’s degree in the broad field of study “business” were the least likely to have an advanced degree (21%).

Among workers with a bachelor’s degree but not an advanced degree, the estimated 40-year work-life earnings range from $0.9 million for workers with an education degree to $1.7 million for workers with an engineering degree. Workers with undergraduate majors that require mathematics competencies tend to earn the most over their work lives.

The Earnings Gain from a Master’s Degree. The most prevalent advanced degree is a master’s degree, and typical workers who have one earn an estimated $1.6 million over their work life in comparison to $1.4 million for workers with a bachelor’s degree alone. The increment to work-life earnings varies by undergraduate field of study. Undergraduate majors in the liberal arts field of study who then get a master’s degree tend to earn $0.1 million more in work-life earnings than workers with only a liberal arts bachelor’s degree. Workers with bachelor’s degrees in business, computers and engineering tend to obtain the greatest boost to work-life earnings from completing a master’s degree ($0.4 million).

The reader should bear in mind that in the ACS we don’t know the field of study of the master’s degree. The ACS reveals only the major field of study of the respondent’s bachelor’s degree. It is not possible using the ACS to investigate the earnings of workers with master’s degrees by the field of the master’s.

Limitations of the Analysis of Work-life Earnings

The above estimates of work-life earnings reflect the current patterns of educational returns in the U.S. labor market. Currently, on average, employers are willing to pay workers with associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees more than workers who did not pursue any formal education beyond high school. It is not known if these educational premiums will persist in the future. Over the past 20 years, the returns to education seem to be quite stable.

It is typically surmised that new developments in the wage structure will be observed first among young, less-experienced workers. These workers are relatively new entrants to the labor market. The charts on the following page plot the change over the past 35 years in median earnings of 25- to 34-year-old full-time, full-year workers (all dollar amounts adjusted for inflation). The median earnings of 25- to 34-year-old workers with a bachelor’s degree have remained stable around $46,000 per year since 1976. Earnings of high school graduates with no further education fell during the 1980s and have stabilized at around $30,000 since the early 1990s. As a result, the college to high school earnings premium increased from 1.1 in 1976 to 1.5 by 1992. In March 2010, the ratio was 1.5. The earnings premium for college-educated workers has been stable over the past 20 years in spite of the fact that there has been growth in the supply of college-educated labor. In 1990, 23% of 25- to 29-year-olds had at least a bachelor’s degree. In 2010, 31% of 25- to 29-year-olds had at least a bachelor’s degree.

Work-life earnings estimates utilize the averages (or means) of what workers earn. Means are measures of central tendencies, and while it is true that most workers with less education earn less than workers with college degrees, a few less-educated workers are relatively very highly paid. The first row of the Table below reports the mean earnings of workers by education. The following rows report the earnings distribution for each group of workers by education, where the intervals correspond to the means above. So, for example, 73% of workers with a high school education but no college earn less than what the average worker with some college earns ($46,870). Only 8% earn at least what the typical worker with a bachelor’s degree alone earns ($71,912). As the table shows, the reverse is also true. Not all highly educated workers are relatively highly paid. For example, 36% of workers with a bachelor’s degree alone are paid less than the typical worker with some college ($46,870).

The Big Payoff: More than Just Earnings

In addition to earning more, on average, than other workers, persons with more education generally have more stable employment patterns. They are more likely than those with less education to be employed, to work full-year and to work greater amounts of hours if they so choose. For example, in March 2010 the unemployment rate of persons without a bachelor’s degree was 11%. The comparable unemployment rate for persons with at least a bachelor’s degree was 5%.

This gap has persisted for many decades, and through multiple ups and downs of the economy.

As noted earlier, the “big payoff” analysis presented in this chapter captures only the direct earnings gains associated with higher education. If one were to factor in the greater likelihood of being employed among those with higher levels of educational attainment, those money benefits would grow larger. In addition, increased education appears to have substantial benefits for individuals beyond the labor market (Wolfe and Haveman, 2002). Greater education is associated with improvements in one’s health (in fact, some of the earnings differences across education groups may be occurring as a result of health improvements). A vast literature shows that parental education has large impacts on children’s health and subsequent success in life. Education is increasingly associated with the likelihood that a person gets married and affects the stability of marital unions (Lefgren and McIntyre, 2006). The benefits of additional schooling beyond the labor market may be sizable. As one reviewer recently observed: “Large amounts of money appear to be lying on the sidewalk. Of course, money isn’t everything. In the case of the returns from schooling, it seems to be just the beginning” (Oreopoulos and Salvanes, 2011).

Out-of-Pocket Costs of Higher Education

Undergraduate Education. The cost of acquiring a college education partly depends on which college or university the student attends. On the basis of an annual survey of the nation’s colleges and universities, the College Board compiled the average tuition and fees charged full-time undergraduates for the 2010-11 academic year. The “sticker price,” or the published tuition and fees, ranged from an average of $2,700 per year at public two-year colleges to an average of over $27,000 at private not-for-profit four-year colleges and universities.

Most undergraduates do not actually pay the sticker price because more than six-in-ten full-time, full-year undergraduates receive some grant aid that reduces the out-of-pocket annual expenses for college. In addition, some students and their families obtain federal income tax credits or deductions for higher education expenses that effectively reduce college expenses. After accounting for the estimated average grant aid and federal tax credits, the College Board estimates that the average net price of attending a public two-year college is less than zero. The average annual out-of-pocket expenses at public four-year college and universities for in-state students is $1,540 per year; at private, not-for-profit, four-year colleges and universities, it is slightly more than $11,000 per year.

These figures underestimate out-of-pocket college expenses because they do not include expenses for books and supplies and for transportation costs. Based on institutional budgets for students as reported by college and universities in the annual survey, the College Board estimates that books and transportation typically cost the undergraduate an additional $2,000 per year (College Board, 2010).

The published tuition and fees reported in the figure on page 100 are enrollment-weighted averages and they may not seem consistent with news accounts of private not-for-profit tuition and fees eclipsing the $50,000 mark. First, most full-time undergraduates do not attend private colleges and universities. Nearly two-thirds of the nation’s full-time undergraduates at four-year colleges and universities are at public institutions. Second, even in the private sphere, there is a distribution of students across a range of colleges that vary in their published price. According to the College Board, about a quarter of private full-time undergraduates are at colleges and universities with announced tuition and fees at or above $36,000 per year. These students represent less than 10% of the nation’s full-time, four-year undergraduates. Perhaps not surprisingly, most students do not attend the nation’s most expensive colleges and universities.

Graduate and Professional Education. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) provides similar estimates of the cost of pursuing advanced degrees. For the 2007-08 academic year, the average full-time student paid about $16,000 in tuition and fees to pursue a master’s degree and around $18,000 for a doctoral degree. Students pursuing professional degrees typically paid about $26,000. Again, these figures slightly underestimate expenses because they do not include expenses for books and supplies and for transportation. Although grant aid is not as pervasive for students pursuing advanced degrees as for undergraduates, grant aid does reduce out-of-pocket expenses for some graduate and professional students. According to NCES, more than 40% of full-time graduate and professional students received some grant aid, and a majority of those students pursuing a doctoral degree receive an assistantship.

After aid, the typical full-time student pursuing a master’s paid around $9,000 per year in 2007-08. The average student seeking a professional degree paid about $21,000 after aid. Accounting for aid and assistantships, the average full-time student pursuing doctoral degrees paid net tuition and fees of less than zero in 2007-08.

The NCES figures are averages, and some full-time graduate and professional students will pay out-of-pocket expenses for their advanced degrees in excess of these figures. For example, while the average student pursuing a professional degree paid $26,000 in tuition before any aid, students at law school pursuing a J.D. or LL.B. degree typically paid about $30,000 per year (before aid) in 2007-08.

Foregone Earnings: Typically the Biggest Expense

For many students, the value of their time and effort devoted to academic studies is a larger cost than the out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and fees. Rather than being in school, the student could be employed. The average high school graduate ages 18 to 24 and working full time, full year earned $23,400 in 2009. These foregone earnings trump the out-of-pocket expenses of the average undergraduate at an in-state public institution as well as those of many students at private colleges and universities.²¹

Foregone earnings are also probably a more sizable cost for students pursuing advanced degrees. These students already have at least a bachelor’s degree and, on average, what they could earn in the labor market is greater than the typical undergraduate. Foregone earnings for students pursuing advanced degrees probably depend on their undergraduate major field of study. Typical annual earnings for 18- to 24-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree range from $30,000 for liberal arts majors to nearly $48,000 for engineering majors.

The Big Payoff?

Based on average earnings and costs, and assuming a 4% discount rate, the completion of many higher education degrees might be expected to pay off in that the additional gains in estimated work-life earnings exceed the out-of-pocket college expenses and foregone earnings. The net payoffs typically are in the six-digit range rather than the seven digit range, and for some fields of study may be negligible. The section that follows looks at some examples.

Associate Degree. Over a 40-year work life, a worker with an associate degree earns an estimated $0.21 million more over a worker with no schooling beyond high school. After aid and federal tax benefits, the out-of-pocket cost of acquiring an associate degree is minimal. However, a youth would forego two years of earnings (around $50,000) to obtain the associate degree. The estimated work-life earnings gains seem to exceed the present costs.

Bachelor’s Degree. The added earnings from most bachelor’s degrees seem to exceed the typical costs to acquire them, but bachelor’s degrees in some fields of study seem to be on the bubble. Consider a bachelor’s degree in education. The estimated work-life earnings gain of a worker with a bachelor’s degree in education and no advanced degree is less than $200,000. Assuming four years of undergraduate study are required to complete the bachelor’s degree, the undergraduate will forego about $94,000 in earnings. The out-of-pocket expenses to acquire the degree depend partly on which college or university the student attends. Supposing that the student attends in-state, full-time at a public four-year institution, then the out-of-pocket expenses, according to the College Board, average $1,540 per year, or about $6,000. In this example, the payoff is in the tens of thousands of dollars, and it is not clear that a bachelor’s degree in education automatically pays off over a work life. Education majors attending more expensive college and universities and lacking generous aid packages may not experience large net payoffs.

Work-life earnings estimates suggest bachelor’s degrees in other fields of study have higher payoffs. The typical worker with a bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts field and no advanced degree earns an additional $0.48 million over 40 years compared with a high school graduate who has no further formal education. Unless the degree is obtained at a very expensive college and university and no grant aid is received, it is highly likely that the added earnings will exceed the costs by a comfortable margin.

Master’s Degree. A typical master’s degree completed early in life likely pays off. Suppose that a master’s degree can be completed in two years of full-time graduate education beyond the bachelor’s degree. Using an instance where the earnings data suggest that the payoffs tend to be more modest, consider a youth with a bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts field. The additional work-life earnings from obtaining a master’s are $0.11 million above the earnings of a worker with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. In this instance, the payoff is not large. The out-of-pocket tuition fees average $17,200 and the foregone earnings might be around $61,000. The additional work-life earnings exceed the upfront costs, but again in tens of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Law Degrees. Law degrees (J.D. or LL.B.) are far and away the most popular professional degree conferred, and work-life earnings estimates suggest that they have a sizable earnings benefit relative to the costs of acquiring the law degree. Consider a young person with a bachelor’s degree with an undergraduate major field of study in social science/law. The NCES tuition figures indicate that the out-of-pocket cost of three years of law school after aid will average about $75,000. Again, foregone earnings trump this, as a worker with a bachelor’s degree in social science/law will forego about $32,000 per year (or a total of $96,000) to pursue law school. The added work-life earnings gains from having a law degree likely exceed the $170,000 costs by several-fold. The 2009 ACS does not allow us to estimate the work-life earnings of workers with a law degree. The work-life earnings of workers with professional degrees are $2.6 million, far in excess of the $1.4 million work-life earnings of a worker with a bachelor’s degree in social science/law. The $2.6 million figure of professional degree holders might overestimate what a worker with a law degree will make over a 40-year work life, because it includes the earnings of workers with medical degrees (at the same time, the $2.6 million figure also includes the earnings of religious workers with theology degrees). But a reasonable expectation is that the added increment to work-life earnings from having a law degree far exceeds the $170,000 cost of acquiring it.

Appendix I to Chapter 5: Methodology and Estimation Issues

Synthetic work-life earnings estimates assume that a worker’s earnings stream will mimic the most recent age-earnings profile. Following Census Bureau (2002), the synthetic work-life earnings estimates are calculated by:

Synthetic work-life earnings = 

is average earnings and i refers to age. Although the underlying sample sizes are quite large in the American Community Survey (see below), providing estimates by educational attainment and field of study does make demands on the statistical reliability of the data. So, following Census Bureau (2002), average earnings were computed not for each age but rather for five-year age groups: ages 25-29, 30-34, …, 60-64. As mentioned in the text, synthetic work-life earnings do not discount earnings received later in the work life. The modified synthetic work-life earnings presented apply appropriate discounting:

Modified synthetic work-life earnings = 

where r is the discount rate.

The 2009 American Community Survey Integrated Public Use Micro Sample (IPUMS) is about a 1% sample of the resident population and has records of 3,030,728 people. There are 865,000 full-time, full-year workers ages 25 to 64 in the 2009 ACS. Of these, 823,000 report having positive wage and salary income in the prior year. This is the underlying sample used for the analysis. By age group and undergraduate field of study, the following table reports the unweighted sample sizes for workers with at least a bachelor’s degree:

Wage and salary income is top-coded in the 2009 ACS. The top-code varies by state. Median earnings are unaffected by top-codes but mean earnings statistics are. The estimates reported are based on the wage and salary income in the data file. Top-coding likely affects the mean earnings of workers with professional degrees the most as they tend to be the highest earning workers.

Appendix II to Chapter 5: Major Fields of Study

The 2009 American Community Survey identifies 37 undergraduate major fields of study. Following Census Bureau (2005), the individual majors were aggregated into eight broad fields of study:

About the General Public Survey

Results for the general public survey are based on telephone interviews conducted March 15-29, 2011 among a national sample of 2,142 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (a total of 1,052 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 1,090 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 544 who had no landline telephone). The survey was conducted by interviewers at Princeton Data Source under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI). Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. A combination of landline and cell phone random digit dial (RDD) samples were used; both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. The landline RDD sample was drawn using traditional list-assisted methods where telephone numbers were drawn with equal probabilities from all active blocks in the continental U.S. The cell sample was drawn through a systematic sampling from dedicated wireless 100-blocks and shared service 100-blocks with no directory-listed landline numbers. Both the landline and cell RDD samples were disproportionately stratified by county based on estimated incidences of African-American and Hispanic respondents. Additional interviewers were obtained with 18-34 year-olds through a combination of additional screening in the cell phone RDD sample, and by re-contacting landline and cell phone respondents ages 18-34 from recent surveys conducted by PSRAI.

Both the landline and cell samples were released for interviewing in replicates, which are small random samples of each larger sample. Using replicates to control the release of telephone numbers ensures that the complete call procedures are followed for all numbers dialed. At least 7 attempts were made to complete an interview at every sampled telephone number. The calls are staggered over times of day and days of the week (including at least one daytime call) to maximize the chances of making contact with a potential respondent. An effort is made to recontact most interview breakoffs and refusals to attempt to convert them to completed interviews.

Respondents in the landline sample were selected by randomly asking for the youngest adult male or female who is now at home. Interviews in the cell sample were conducted with the person who answered the phone, if that person was an adult 18 years of age or older. The additional interviews with 18-34 year-olds from the cell sample were administered an age screener; those who were in the target age range completed the interview. For the landline callback sample, interviewers asked to speak with the person based on age and gender who participated in an earlier survey. For the cellular callback sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone once it was confirmed that they were in the target age range.

Weighting is generally used in survey analysis to adjust for effects of sample design and to compensate for patterns of nonresponse that might bias results. The weighting was accomplished in multiple stages to account for the different sample frames as well as the oversampling of 18-34 year-olds. Weighting also balances sample demographic distributions to match known population paramaters.

The first stage of weighting accounted for the disproportionately-stratified RDD sample design of the landline and cell samples. In addition, this stage included an adjustment to account for the oversampling of 18-34 year-olds. The first stage weight also included a probability-of-selection adjustment for the RDD landline sample to correct for the fact that respondents in the landline sample have different probabilities of being sampled depending on how many adults live in the household (i.e., people who live with no other adults have a greater chance of being selected than those who live in multiple-adult households). Lastly, this stage of weighting also accounted for the overlap in the landline and cellular RDD frames.

In the second stage of weighting, the combined sample was weighted using an iterative technique that matches gender, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, and region to parameters from the March 2010 Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The population density parameter is county based and was derived from 2000 Census data. The sample also is weighted to match current patterns of telephone status and relative usage of landline and cell phones (for those with both), based on extrapolations from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey.

The survey’s margin of error is the largest 95% confidence interval for any estimated proportion based on the total sample – the one around 50%. For example, the margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. This means that in 95 out of every 100 samples drawn using the same methods, estimated proportions based on the entire sample will be no more than 2.7 percentage points away from their true values in the population. Sampling errors and statistical tests of significance take into account the effect of weighting. The following table shows the sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey:

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

About the College Presidents Survey

Results for the college presidents survey are based on interviews conducted from March 15-April 24, 2011 among 1,055 college and university presidents under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Interviewing was primarily self-administered online by college presidents, however, a phone interview option was made available to any president who requested it (1,022 interviews were completed online and 33 by telephone). The college presidents survey was done by the Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends Project in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education (Chronicle). The list of college presidents was compiled by the Chronicle from the Higher Education Directory and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The population for this study is college and university presidents of public and private (for-profit and not for profit—NFP) institutions in the U.S. that meet the following criteria: 1) degree granting, 2) have received accreditation or pre-accreditation status from a recognized accrediting agency, and 3) had a minimum enrollment of 500 students in the fall of 2009. Institutions in U.S. territories, military institutions, graduate-only institutions, system offices and CEOs of for-profit parent companies were excluded from the survey. Presidents of institutions who oversee multiple eligible locations and branches were included but were only asked to complete the survey once. The final list, after the above institutions were excluded and presidents who oversee multiple locations were counted only once, included 3,324 college and university presidents.

All 3,324 presidents on the list were contacted to complete the survey. Each president was mailed a letter on stationary with logos of both the Pew Research Center and The Chronicle of Higher Education on March 10, 2011. The letter was signed by Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President of the Pew Research Center and Jeffrey J. Selingo, Editor for The Chronicle of Higher Education. This letter was intended to introduce the survey to prospective respondents, describe the nature and purpose of the survey and encourage participation in the survey. The initial letter contained a URL and a password for a secure website where the survey could be completed. The letter also included a toll-free number for respondents to call if they had questions.

Subsequent requests to complete the survey were sent primarily by email to those who had not yet responded. Three email requests to complete the survey were sent to those who had not yet responded and could be contacted by email (over 90% had working email addresses) on March 16th (to NFP and for-profit), March 30th (to NFP), April 5th (to for-profit) and April 12th (to NFP and for-profit). On March 17th, interviewers at Princeton Data Source began calling those without email addresses, as well as those whose email requests had bounced back as undeliverable, in an effort to gather working email addresses and encourage participation online. On April 4th (for NFP) and April 11th (for for-profit) phone calling began to all presidents who had not yet completed the survey, to encourage participation online.

Although all of the presidents were asked to complete the survey, only some of them responded. A total of 1,055 of the 3,324 presidents surveyed completed the interview for a response rate of 32% (see table below for response rates by sector). Nonresponse in surveys can produce biases in survey-derived estimates because participation may vary for different groups, who may differ on questions of substantive interest. In order to correct for these biases, weighting is often employed. The final data was weighted using an iterative technique to match distributions for sector and region to population distributions. The weighting was employed to help correct for disproportionate non-response that might bias sample estimates. Margins of error and statistical tests of significance take into account the effect of weighting. The following table shows the response rates, sample sizes and margins of error that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey:

The above margins of error include a finite population correction to account for the fact that presidents were surveyed without replacement from a relatively small finite population.

One should also bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.