AAC&U News | August 2003 | Facts & Figures

Americans Confident in Higher Education but Continue to Worry about College Cost, Quality of K-12 Education

According to “Quality, Affordability, and Access: Americans Speak on Higher Education,” a recent study from the Educational Testing Service, education remains a high priority for the nation. Focus groups polled in May 2003 give good grades to higher education but have grave concerns about K-12 education and its ability to prepare students to succeed in college. The majority of Americans also have little knowledge about education reform efforts at the elementary and high school levels. Although Americans are happy with the quality of higher education, they have concerns about access, cost, and college readiness. Americans favor involvement by the federal government in addressing these issues.

FINDINGS

What the Public Thinks about Higher Education and K-12 Quality

The majority of business leaders (72 percent), college faculty (79 percent), college students (56 percent), and adults (56 percent) give the American higher education system an "A" or "B" for quality.
K-12 education scored an "A" or "B" from only 31 percent of adults; 45 percent of college students; 33 percent of college faculty; and 44 percent of business leaders.
The majority of college students (89 percent), college faculty (90 percent), and business leaders (88 percent) feel the higher education system "works well."
A majority of adults (57 percent) say that the national education system is doing very well or well enough at graduating students from college who are prepared to succeed in the work force. Business executives who are in a position to hire recent graduates are more optimistic, with 73 percent reporting that higher education is doing a good job at preparing students for work.
A majority of adults (57 percent) say that the national education system is doing very well or well enough at graduating students from college who are prepared to succeed in the work force. Business executives who are in a position to hire recent graduates are more optimistic, with 73 percent reporting that higher education is doing a good job at preparing students for work.

What the Public Is Worried About

More than half of adults say that our national education system is coming up short or falling behind when it comes to offering young people from all backgrounds a chance to go to a college or university.
More than a year after it was passed, only 37 percent of adults are aware that a major K-12 education bill has been signed into law (the No Child Left Behind Act), and only 12 percent believe that reforms have led to changes in the schools.
More than half of adults name rising tuition and other costs as the biggest problem facing colleges and universities. Additional concerns include decreased funding from the government (20 percent) and the quality of faculty/academic programs (16 percent).

What the Public Thinks about Funding and Federal Involvement

Eighty-four percent of adults say that the federal government should pay a significant role in higher education, 38 percent want to limit government's role to helping students and their families afford college, and 46 percent want government's role to include strengthening higher education's accountability.
The public is willing to pay more taxes to increase federal support for college students (66 percent) and for colleges and universities (61 percent). Seventy-two percent support increasing tax credits for families sending their children to college.
Forty-five percent want the Higher Education Act level of funding to remain the same, 37 percent want funding to increase, and only 7 percent want less funding.
Seventy-four percent of adults favor placing federal limits on college tuition to keep increases in line with inflation.

What the Public Thinks about Accountability

The public is split down the middle on college and university accountability for the quality of higher education: Forty-five percent say that colleges and universities should be held more accountable for the quality of higher education; 46 percent feel that colleges and universities are already held accountable enough.
The public thinks that it is more important to hold colleges accountable for the quality of education they provide (52 percent), rather than how they spend their federal dollars (24 percent). Twenty-two percent volunteer that they should be held accountable for both.

DID YOU KNOW?

The public does not see a major need for reform in higher education.
The public sees great “value” for their money in college degrees.
Americans are willing to pay more in taxes to fund an increase in assistance to individuals to help pay for college.
Americans are concerned that high school graduates are not equipped to pursue a college degree or enter the workforce.
Only three in eight adults are aware that a national education reform bill was signed into law.

For more information about the report, visit the ETS Web site, www.ets.org/aboutets/americaspeaks/survey2003.html.

For a summary presentation of the study's key findings, visit ftp://ftp.ets.org/pub/corp/2003surveypresentation.pdf. (PDF)

Survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Robert M. Teeter's Coldwater Corporation.