Nearly two-thirds of adults say four-year colleges and universities are doing a poor job providing an affordable education, but most still want their children to pursue higher education after high school, according to a Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll.
The approval numbers, gathered in June, reflect long-standing criticism that the cost of college is placing higher education out of reach. The average published tuition at four-year colleges has doubled in the last 30 years to an average of $11,950 each year for public institutions and $45,000 for private ones (not including housing). And even though the trend has reversed in the last decade, Americans said they feel pinched.
People of all age groups, races, education levels and even political parties gave similarly negative ratings of four-year institutions’ performance in providing an affordable education, according to the survey. Yet about three-quarters of parents told pollsters they would most prefer that their child enroll in a four-year college, a community college or a job-training or certification program after high school.
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