Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Explore the Data
- Introduction
- Americans believe well-paying jobs require education after high school.
- Americans believe education after high school creates opportunities.
- Americans want change in higher education.
- Americans believe public colleges and universities are worth the cost but feel more mixed about private and for-profit colleges and universities.
- Regardless of demographic, Americans like their local colleges and universities.
- Americans support workforce-based programs such as apprenticeships.
- Americans believe higher education is a public benefit and that the government should do more to make it affordable.
- Perception versus reality
- North Carolina
- Institutional Profile: Elon University
- Apprenticeship Program Profile: Siemens Charlotte
Americans believe well-paying jobs require education after high school.
Less than half agree (48 percent) that there are lots of well-paying jobs that do not require education after high school. This year, we asked half the sample if there are well-paying jobs that do not require education after high school, and the other half if there are well-paying jobs that do not require college. When the idea of higher education is narrowed to just college, people are more likely to agree (57 percent) that there are well-paying jobs that do not require college. In other words, higher education is seen as beneficial, but that education does not have to be college.
Findings by Party Identification
Republicans, regardless of how the question is asked, believe there are lots of well-paying jobs that do not require education after high school. Two-thirds of Republicans believe there are lots of well-paying jobs that do not require college (68 percent) compared with 51 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Independents. A majority of Republicans (61 percent) also believe there are lots of well-paying jobs that do not require education after high school, compared with only 40 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Independents.
Other Findings
By Race and Ethnicity
Fifty-seven percent of African American respondents and 62 percent of Hispanic respondents believe that there are well-paying jobs that do not require college. When the scope of the question was expanded to ask whether there are well-paying jobs that do not require education after high school, only 40 percent of African American respondents and 47 percent of Hispanic respondents agreed, a significant drop. The magnitude of the drop from last year’s survey for white respondents (which fell from 60 percent to 52 percent) and Asian American respondents (from 45 percent to 43 percent) was not as large.
By Generation
Phrasing the question differently does not change how Millennials think about the job prospects for people without any sort of postsecondary education.1 Approximately 49 percent of Millennials agree that there are lots of well-paying jobs that do not require college and a similar share, 52 percent, believe that many well-paying jobs are available without education after high school.
Generation X respondents and Baby Boomers, on the other hand, are significantly less likely to believe there are well-paying jobs without any education after high school than when the question is narrowed to ask about “jobs that do not require college.”
Citations
- For the purposes of this analysis, the age breakdown by generation is as follows: Generation Z includes 18- to 23-year-olds, Millennials include 24- to 38-year-olds, Generation X includes 39- to 53-year-olds, Baby Boomers include 54- to 72-year-olds, and the Silent Generation includes those over 72.