Americans are increasingly recognizing what many families have quietly suspected for years: modern higher education simply isn’t worth the price tag for millions of young people.
A new NBC News poll shows 63% of voters now believe a four-year college degree is not worth it, citing massive debt loads and the lack of “specific job skills” acquired in return. That’s a dramatic shift from 2013, when 53% said a degree was worth the cost because it boosted career prospects and lifetime earnings.
For generations, college was the reliable ladder to a better life. “Upward mobility” and “college educated” were practically interchangeable. But that equation has collapsed. Today, far too many degrees offer nothing but crushing loans and a flimsy résumé.
Tuition has exploded — doubling in just 20 years, after already doubling two decades before. Universities kept hiking prices because federal aid and government-backed loans let them get away with it. And what do students get in return for $70,000 a year? All too often: not preparation for a stable or lucrative profession.
Instead, countless schools have morphed into woke indoctrination mills, churning out graduates with expensive liberal-arts degrees and no marketable skills. One report found two-thirds of colleges now require DEI-themed courses to graduate, with offerings like “Abolition of Whiteness” or “Understanding Diversity in a Pluralistic Society.”
Why go tens of thousands of dollars into debt to be force-fed identity politics?
Meanwhile, grade inflation and faculty dominated by left-wing ideologues further undermine the value of “real” coursework. And the job market itself has shifted: AI is rapidly disrupting white-collar fields, leaving many recent grads— even those in math and engineering — with fewer opportunities than they expected.
Students are responding. College enrollment has plunged in recent years, while Gen Z is increasingly looking toward skilled trades — welding, plumbing, electrical work — fields that offer high pay, high demand, and none of the ideological baggage.
Trade school, once unfairly stigmatized, now looks like the smarter bet: affordable, focused, and tied directly to a valuable skill.
To be clear, college still makes sense for many—especially at schools that keep tuition reasonable and maintain rigorous academic standards. But the idea that everyone should go to college was never true, and today it’s flat-out wrong.
Americans are waking up. The era of the one-size-fits-all college pipeline is over — and not a moment too soon.
