Preface

What a year it has been. The nation grappled with a public health crisis unlike anything seen since the 1918 flu pandemic. The result has been millions of infections nationwide and nearly 600,000 deaths domestically, catapulting COVID-19 into the top three causes of death in America.¹ To prevent our medical system from being overwhelmed, the economy was put on ice in spring 2020 and has been slowly thawing ever since with inequitable recovery—the “haves” continue to prosper, while the “have nots” are struggling to keep food on the table and roofs over their heads.²

The public health and economic crisis were not the only upheaval Americans faced. Over the spring and summer, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police sparked major national and worldwide racial justice protests. Right in front of New America’s office, steps from the White House, protesters took to the streets and were violently disbanded by armed officers. Meanwhile, we were working remotely on Varying Degrees, our annual survey about higher education in America.

In November 2020, Americans headed to the polls. Despite the Trump administration’s best efforts to undermine the election with unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, President Biden was declared the winner. The decisive win, however, did not stop the mass proliferation of conspiracy theories, often instigated by President Trump himself, and a coordinated effort to prevent vote certifications in several states, which culminated in the deadly insurrection on the nation’s Capitol in January.

America has a lot of healing to do. President Biden and Congress hit the ground running, promising vaccination for all eligible adults starting last month in April and passing relief bills. However, the nation continues to grapple with a racial reckoning long overdue.

Meanwhile, colleges and universities have enrolled millions of students, educated them mostly online, and struggled to meet their basic needs in one of the most difficult years in the history of modern higher education. Enrollments suffered, with an overall decline of 4.4 percent year over year, and a more precipitous and alarming 10 percent decline at community colleges.³ Most campuses had to deal with losses in revenues due to dips in enrollment, reductions in auxiliary revenues, and the costs of dealing with the pandemic. Some institutions are just hanging on, in hopes that the academic year 2021–2022 will be more similar to 2019–2020. Many were forced to lay off staff and faculty along with consolidating or cutting academic programs.

Last year, the data collection for Varying Degrees occurred right before the full weight of the pandemic hit, turning all our lives upside down. One year later, our data collection happened at what we hope is a turning point of this crisis. The results this year show that in many ways, even though the pandemic turned our lives upside down, it did not greatly change Americans' views about education after high school on most questions.

Varying Degrees turns five just as we enter what we hope is a new normal. We now have five years of data, and thus an understanding of the impact national events have had on the opinions of Americans about education after high school. We have seen two presidential elections, a global pandemic, economic recovery and recession and recovery again, midterm elections, culture wars on campus, and a racial reckoning.

As the health crisis winds down and we enter a new phase of economic recovery—one that will rely on millions of students entering or returning to colleges and universities—it will be vital that we understand America’s perceptions of the value of educational opportunities after high school, how these opportunities are funded, and how we hold institutions accountable for this investment.