Straws in the Wind - Part 141

From Pew Research: Seven-in-ten Americans now say the higher education system in the United States is generally going in the wrong direction – up from 56% who said this in 2020, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. In addition, many give colleges and universities negative ratings across a range of specific areas – from keeping tuition costs affordable to preparing students for jobs in today’s economy. The survey of 3,445 U.S. adults comes as the Trump administration has taken several high-profile actions related to colleges and universities. Recently, the administration proposed that nine universities agree to a set of policy changes in exchange for special access to federal funds. In the new survey, majorities across all major demographic groups share the view that the U.S. higher education system is going in the wrong direction. But some groups are more likely than others to say this. For example, adults who have a four-year college degree are somewhat more likely than those without a college degree to express this view (74% vs. 69%).

Similarly, 77% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the higher education system is going in the wrong direction, compared with a smaller majority (65%) of Democrats and Democratic leaners. In both parties, these shares have gone up by at least 10 percentage points since 2020 – and the gap between Republicans and Democrats has narrowed...

Full release at https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/15/growing-share-of-americans-say-the-us-higher-education-system-is-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/.