VU poll: Confidence in higher education rebounds; affordability, political bias are still concerns

Key findings

• Americans’ confidence in and favorability toward colleges and universities has increased from recent lows.

• Americans across the political spectrum still are deeply concerned about the affordability of higher education, but many say colleges and universities produce important research and help prepare students for successful careers.

• The public shows a nuanced understanding of higher education, offering, for example, different views about community colleges than Ivy League institutions.

• Many Americans see political bias in higher education as a serious problem, and strong majorities across parties want universities to remain neutral on political issues.

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy recently conducted a national poll to gauge Americans’ opi