A new poll on the reputation of U.S. higher education among high school students shows that a high percentage of prospective undergraduates have doubts about whether or not our colleges and universities are still among the best in the world.
According to a new study commissioned by Kaplan University Partners, just 7% of students in grades 10 to 12 fully believe that U.S. colleges and universities are the best in the world. And only 8% of students think our schools prepare students well enough to enter the workforce.
In the study, researchers aimed to gauge student perceptions concerning their future of higher education, with a focus on the cost of funding a college degree, as well as whether or not they would be able to connect their collegiate education with some form of workforce experience to better prepare them to enter the job market after graduation.
In addition to measuring student opinions about the overall standings of U.S. colleges and universities on the world stage, students were also asked whether they believed their time at college would lead to the development of job and social skills. While 73% of students agreed that college is a prime time for “intellectual exploration” and the development of interpersonal skills, roughly 34% also agreed that college is “a waste of time for students who don’t know what they want to do afterwards.”
While a number of factors are likely contributing to the decline in college enrollment following high school, the associated cost of the 4-year degree is likely a chief factor, along with the emergence of high-paying alternatives, such as trade schools, that enable students to graduate from certificate programs for less money and quickly find decent-paying jobs.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and has continued to contribute to the Washington Examiner regularly.
