A recent national survey of how Americans feel about numerous aspects of higher education shows they want more institutional accountability, and - on measure after measure - they view private, for-profit colleges more negatively than institutions from the other higher education sectors.
The results come from the just-released Varying Degrees 2021, the fifth nationally representative higher education survey conducted by New America’s, the D.C.-based think tank. This year’s survey was administered to 2,620 Americans ages 18 and older to understand their opinions about higher education’s value, how it’s funded, and how it should be held accountable. It also evaluated how Americans viewed higher ed’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, its pandemic-driven pivot to online education. and several elements of President Biden’s higher education policy agenda.
General Perceptions of Higher Education
Three in four Americans (76%) believe that an education beyond high school will give a good return on investment, a figure that’s remained fairly stable over the last five years. There is a bit of partisan divide on this view, however. Among Democrats, 81% believe postsecondary education offers a good return on investment, compared to 75% of Republicans.
But there’s been noteworthy slippage in public attitudes about whether colleges and universities are having a positive or negative effect on the way things are going in the country. In New America’s survey last year, 69% thought that institutions were having a positive effect. That figure dropped to 58% this year. An even stronger partisan divide emerged on this question, with 68% of Democrats believing colleges and universities have a positive effect, while only 40% of Republicans agreed.
Which Higher Education Sectors Contribute to a Strong Workforce
When asked whether different types of institutions contribute to a strong workforce for the nation, Americans distinguish significantly between various higher education sectors. Here's the rank order of respondents strongly agreeing/agreeing that each of the following institutions contribute to a strong American workforce:
- community colleges (83%)
- public four-year colleges (78%)
- private nonprofit colleges and universities (72%)
- minority-serving institutions (MSIs), such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or Tribal College or Universities (72%)
- for-profit colleges and universities (61%).
Democrats were more likely than Republicans to believe each kind of institution contributed to a strong American workforce with one exception - respondents from the two political parties did not differ in their rating of the for-profit sector.
Compared to other sectors, for-profit colleges earned more negative opinions repeatedly throughout the survey. Here are examples:
- A majority of Americans believe community colleges (79%), public (64%) and private nonprofit (54%) four-year colleges, and minority-serving institutions (65%) are all worth the cost. But only 37% say that for-profit institutions are worth the cost, an almost 10 percentage point decline from 2019.
- Over 70% of Americans believe that public two-year and four-year colleges are for people like them, and 52% believe private nonprofit institutions are as well. However, only 37% say that for-profit colleges are for people like them; and only 36% say that about MSIs, a not too surprising finding given that roughly half of the sample was white.
- Americans are generally favorable about spending more taxpayer dollars on higher education to make it more affordable, but they differ significantly about which institutions should receive those government subsidies. Overall, 76% agree with spending their taxpayer dollars on public community colleges, 64% on public four-year institutions, 61% on MSIs, and 44% on private, nonprofit schools. But only 29% support spending taxpayer dollars on for-profit colleges and universities.
- In general, Americans are becoming more skeptical that colleges are spending their money wisely. Just over half (54%) believe public community colleges spend their money wisely, a decline of nine percentage points since 2019. When it comes to public four-year colleges, 41% think they spend their money wisely, down from 47% in 2019. Forty-one percent of Americans also say the same about private nonprofits, a drop of seven percentage points from 2019. Once again, private, for-profit schools fared the worst - only 28% of respondents said they spend their money wisely, down 11 percentage points from last year.
Expectations For Accountability
These results should send a strong warning signal to the for-profit sector because of one other set of findings. According to the report, “Regardless of political party or race, people want colleges and universities to be transparent about key learning and success outcomes. Ninety-three percent of Americans say it is important for institutions to provide publicly available data on graduates’ results and achievements, such as graduation or employment rates of graduates.”
And they are increasingly willing to put some teeth in their expectations for such accountability in what would amount to something resembling a performance-based model of funding. The following majorities believe that colleges and universities should lose some taxpayer money if they have:
- a low rate of students graduating (81%),
- a low rate of graduates earning a living wage (76%),
- a high ratio of student debt relative to earnings (73%),
- a high rate of graduates earning less than the average high school graduate (72%), and
- a high rate of former students being in default on their student loans (66%).
While these expectations apply to all kinds of colleges and universities, they spell particular trouble for the for-profit institutions, which generally perform worse on the above outcomes than other types of colleges. Joe Biden’s Department of Education under Secretary Miguel Cardona has already indicated it’s looking to renew several types of regulations that the Obama administration had introduced to hold institutions accountable for completion rates, graduates’ earnings, and their students’ loan debt.
And judging from this survey, ramping up that type of accountability will enjoy bipartisan support among Americans. Although Republicans tend to express greater concerns than Democrats about many aspects of higher education, members of both parties express remarkably similar leeriness about the performance of for-profit colleges and universities.
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May 25, 2021 at 01:00PM
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