The share of surveyed Americans who think a college education is “very important” has hit a new all-time low — 31% — since Gallup started asking the question in 1978, according to new data from the polling organization.
The percentage of those who rated college as very important has collapsed since 2013, when Gallup registered a high of 70% of respondents. Drops in recent years can be seen across every tracked demographic group, party affiliation and education level.
Meanwhile, the share of those who think college is “not too important” has risen from 6% in 2013 to 29% in 2026.
Belief that college is ‘very important”’ has plummeted since 2013
Views on college’s importance since 1978
By the numbers
25 percentage points
The decline in the share of Black adults who said college is “very important” in 2025 and 2026 compared to 2019. Just 40% of non-Hispanic Black adults said they thought college was “very important” in Gallup’s latest polling, marking the largest drop among any tracked demographic group or party affiliation.
22%
The share of surveyed Republicans who described college as “very important.” That’s down from 41% in 2019.
39%
The percentage of respondents who said college is “fairly important.” Today, that view represents a plurality of respondents.
Gallup’s poll is based on telephone interviews of 1,200 adults conducted in August. For Gallup’s analysis of demographic groups, it combined data from polls conducted in 2025 and 2026.
The findings “may be partially explained by Americans’ increasing concerns about the cost of college,” according to Gallup Senior Editor Megan Brenan.
She pointed to a recent Lumina Foundation-Gallup poll in which roughly two-third of respondents said colleges were doing a poor job of providing an affordable education.
But Brenan also noted a disparity between Americans’ beliefs about college’s importance and their experience in the workforce.
Another recent Lumina Foundation-Gallup report found 73% of workers without a college degree and 69% of college graduates said earning a degree was at least as important as it was two decades ago.
