Why are Americans still feeling kind of ‘meh’ about higher education?

So how much confidence does your next-door neighbor, or the woman at church, or maybe the guy at work have in higher education?

The answers likely vary if they live in Utah or if they’re college graduates or Republicans or Democrats.

Earlier this year, a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey revealed a sizable majority of Utahns — 67% — reported “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence when asked about the state’s colleges and universities.

But Beehive State residents have less confidence in higher education institutions nationally, with just over half of survey respondents — 53% — expressing similar levels of trust.

Meanwhile, 39% of Utah respondents expressed some level of distrust in colleges and universities across the country.

Less but still notable, 27% surveyed Utahns reported diminished confidence regarding Utah higher education institutions

A Gallup poll released Tuesday indicates that Americans, like Utahns, have mixed feelings when asked about their confidence in the country’s higher education system.

Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults report feeling a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the country’s colleges and universities — that’s down a few ticks from last year’s Gallup poll when 42% signaled such levels of confidence.

Just over a decade ago, Gallup reported 57% of Americans were confident in higher education.

And while 37% of Americans in this week’s survey said they have “some” confidence in higher education, 25% have “very little” or “none.” In 2015, only 10% of Americans reported very little or no confidence.

The results are based on telephone interviews conducted in June with a random sample of approximately 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

U.S. Republicans: More than a third report little confidence in college

This week’s Gallup national poll revealed “confidence in higher ed” disparities across gender, race and political affiliation categories.

More than three-quarters of surveyed adult females, for example, reported at least some level of confidence in American colleges and universities. That’s a few points higher than surveyed adult males.

Seventy-two percent of U.S. white respondents said they had at least some level of trust in higher education — but more than a quarter said they had “very little” or “none.”

Non-whites in the survey were a bit more generous, with 80% saying they have “a great deal,” “quite a lot,” or “some” confidence in higher education.

Twenty-six percent of respondents with a high school diploma or less have little confidence in the country’s colleges and universities. College graduates are more trustful, with 80% reporting at least some level on the survey’s confidence scale.

The most noticeable demographic disparity in the survey was recorded between Republicans and Democrats.

More than a third of Republican respondents reported having “very little” confidence in America’s higher education institutions. Only 12% of surveyed Democrats had comparable negative feelings.

While Democrats are more confident in higher education than their surveyed Republicans, their confidence in American colleges and universities is still down from past Gallup surveys.

Why do Americans trust — or distrust — higher education?

This week’s survey probed respondents for why they do or do not have confidence in higher education in the U.S.

“For those who lack confidence, responses generally focus on three broad themes — perceived political agendas on college campuses (31%), the high cost of a college education (30%), and colleges not preparing students well for the workforce (25%),” according to a Gallup report.

Other reasons for Americans not having confidence in higher education included poor college administration, poor quality of education and Trump administration interference in higher education.

Meanwhile, according to Gallup, the most common reasons people give for being confident in higher education is that it provides good training for students in critical thinking and other skills, makes students informed and knowledgeable and provides them with better job opportunities.

For the first time this year, the Gallup higher education/confidence survey asked Americans whether they believe AI will increase or diminish the importance of a college degree over the next five years.

“Americans generally see AI as a threat to the value of a college degree, with 46% predicting that AI will make college degrees “somewhat less” (29%) or “much less” important (17%), more than double the 20% who think college degrees will become “somewhat more” (9%) or “much more” important (11%).

“The remaining 33% do not think the importance of a college degree will change because of AI.”

But even amid the country’s ongoing ambivalence regarding higher education, Jeff Strohl, research professor and director at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, told U.S. News and World Report that American families are still largely choosing to pursue college.

“Declining public confidence is part of a long-term trend driven by parents and students questioning costs and graduation rates,” he says. “However, we have not seen these concerns translate into major declines in enrollment.”

Ensuring Utahns realize higher education’s ROI

While this year’s Deseret News/Hinckley higher education polls revealed more than two-thirds of Utahns have at least a fair amount of confidence in Beehive State schools, Utah Commissioner of Higher Education Geoffrey Landward said building wider trust is a perpetual challenge.

Responding to the local poll earlier this year, Landward acknowledged that the state’s public schools are subsidized significantly by Utah’s taxpayers.

“I want to know what the taxpayers feel is most important for this investment — and I get that feedback oftentimes, not only from our students and from the parents and others who are in our system, but from the legislators and elected officials who represent the taxpayers.”

Landward believes confidence increases when Utahns are certain that they are attending college to learn, be challenged, become responsible thinkers — all while realizing returns on their time and money.

It’s also vital, he added, that Utahns regard their colleges as part of their communities — not as separate entities.

National honors for Utah’s higher ed system

Utah’s higher education system is being saluted for its commitment to students and institutional stability.

On Tuesday, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO, presented its 2026 “Exceptional Agency Award” to the Utah System of Higher Education, or USHE.

“The recipients of this year’s SHEEO Excellence Awards play a crucial role in shaping systems to better serve students and advance our nation’s postsecondary landscape,” said SHEEO President Robert Andersen.

The award recognized USHE’s “outstanding governance, commitment to student success and innovative initiatives designed to strengthen the state’s future workforce,” according to a USHE news release.

Key USHE achievements noted in the release include its strategic system realignment to enhance regional collaboration, a rigorous new tuition-setting process focused on student affordability, and a 2025 reinvestment exercise that redirected an additional $23 million to instruction and research.

The system also strengthened its statewide impact through a historic January 2026 joint resolution with Utah’s executive and legislative leaders to uphold academic excellence and public accountability.

“Our work is centered on helping Utah students achieve their potential while fostering a thriving state,” said Landward in the USHE release.

“That means building a system designed to cultivate centers of excellence, expand access and ensure our colleges and universities create transformative value for students, employers and communities.”