Dive Brief:
- A nationally representative poll of 30,000 college alumni by Gallup and Purdue University found only half of all respondents agree with the statement that the education they received from their alma mater was worth the cost.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that the higher their debt, the less likely students are to strongly agree, while feeling more “emotionally supported” made it more likely they would strongly agree.
- Only 26% of alumni from for-profit colleges strongly agreed with the statement, and 18% of those with more than $50,000 in debt did so.
Dive Insight:
The Gallup-Purdue University poll is an annual assessment of how engaged graduates are in their work. Researchers added questions about how valuable alumni found their educations to be just last year. This second year of data didn’t show much change from the first. The data does show a difference among recent graduates versus their older peers. Students who graduated between 2006 and 2015 into a tough economy were less likely to think their educations were worth the cost.
