Americans are souring on the necessity of college degrees as costs skyrocket — leaving young adults riddled with debt in a demanding economy, a newly released poll shows.
Over six in 10 registered voters say four-year degrees are not worth the cost, marking a 20 point shift over the last 12 years, according to a NBC News poll released Friday and conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies. About 33% find a four-year degree to be worth the cost as “people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime,” while 63% say the degree is not worth the investment because “people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off.”
In June 2013, 53% of registered voters believed college was worth its price while 40% disagreed, according to the NBC News survey. In 2017, that support dropped to 49% while 47% said steep tuition costs were not worth the payoff. From 2013 to 2025, all Americans had moved away from thinking a college degree is worth the investment — not just those without a four-year diploma, according to one of the polls’ conductors, Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt.
Tuition has slightly eased over the last decade, but once adjusted for inflation, the average cost of public four-year college tuition for in-state students has doubled since 1995, according to College Board data, NBC News reported. At private four-year colleges, tuition is up 75% over the last 30 years.
Less than half of voters with college degrees — 46% today — view their education as worth its cost compared to 63% in 2013, according to the NBC News poll. Those without degrees were evenly split on the issue in 2013, but in 2025, an overwhelming 71% say a four-year degree is not worth it, while only 26% say it is.
What has improved, however, is interest in technical, vocational and two-year degree programs as young adults search for a cheaper education that can get them into the workforce quicker, NBC News reported.
Although every demographic group reflected a decline in a degree’s worth, the shift is most intense among Republicans, according to the survey.
In 2013, 55% of Republicans believed a degree was worth its cost, compared to 38% who disagreed, according to NBC News surveys. In 2025, 22% of Republicans find college to still be worth it compared to 74% saying it is not.
Democrats also reported a decline in the belief that a degree is worth the cost, according to the polling. In 2013, 61% of registered Democratic voters believed four-year degrees were worth the investment. This percentage had dropped to 52% in 2017 and is now at 47% — with a slight majority of Democrats saying the cost of the education is not worth it.
Independent voters experienced an up-and-down shift on the issue between 2013 and 2017, NBC News surveys indicated. Forty-three percent of independents said four-year-degrees were worth the cost in 2013. This increased to 54% in 2017 — only to plummet by 2025 with only 32% of independents now saying a degree is worth the cost and 62% saying it is not worth it.
In the past decade, Republicans have notably won more support from voters without college degrees while Democrats took in more voters with degrees.
There has also been a decline in public confidence in higher education throughout the last decade, according to a Gallup poll from July.
The NBC News poll was conducted jointly by Hart Research Associates, a Democratic polling firm, and Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm, via telephone interviews and online surveys from Oct. 24-28. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1%.
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