Only 25% of U.S. adults say it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job in today’s economy

Additionally, 40 percent of those surveyed by Pew Research said it is not important to get a degree to obtain a well-paying job, while 35 percent said a degree is somewhat important and 25 percent said it is very important.

Opinions varied based on a person’s political ideology and education level, according to the pollster.

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe that degrees are less important than they were 20 years ago. Fifty percent of Republicans said a degree is not important at all for a good-paying job, compared to only 30 percent of Democrats.

Furthermore, 58 percent of college graduates said their education provided them with useful skills for their jobs, compared to 26 percent of high school graduates.

This perception of the diminishing importance of a degree comes at a time when wages for those without degrees are increasing. The poll noted that workers between the ages of 25 and 34 have seen their salaries rise over the past 10 years.

“The public has mixed views on the importance of having a college degree, and many have doubts about whether the cost is worth it,” Pew Research said.

Some Ivy League schools now have a sticker price of $90,000 a year, with the average student debt per person around $30,000.

The findings come as higher education has faced a challenging year, with campuses rocked by the Israel-Hamas war and protests and violence breaking out in the final months of the academic year.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 27, 2023, to Dec. 3, 2023, with 5,203 respondents. The margin of error is 1.8 percentage points.