After a chaotic end to the school year at college campuses across the country, trust in those institutions has sharply dropped, according to a new poll.
A Gallup poll released on Monday showed that only 36% of respondents have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education, 32% have some confidence in the institutions, and 32% said they have little to none at all. While the percentage of those expressing a great deal of confidence has remained constant in the past year, those saying they have no confidence jumped 9% compared to 2023.
During the most recent school year, several of the top universities in the country have been enveloped with controversy over the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, specifically with antisemitic attacks and threats against Jewish students. The testimony of three university presidents before the House of Representatives late last year sparked outrage, and two of the presidents soon after lost their jobs after their answers on combatting antisemitism were widely panned.
At the end of the school year, several anti-Israel encampments began to pop up on different college campuses, including Columbia University, with Jewish students allegedly being harassed and attacked by protesters.
When divided by political parties, Republicans have seen the most dramatic decline in trust in higher education. The pollster said that 56% of Republicans surveyed in 2015 had a great deal to quite a lot of confidence in the institutions, while nine years later, only 20% of Republicans say they have confidence in higher education.
The poll released on Monday also shows double-digit drops in confidence from Democrats and independents since 2015.
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When asked why adults are not confident in higher education, 41% alluded to an alleged political agenda by the institutions, while 37% said they have the wrong focus or are not teaching the right things.
Other top concerns of those surveyed who did not have confidence in the institutions were cost and expenses, political unrest in higher education, and poor administration, among other problems.
