Morning Consult, a company that conducts regular surveys on things like consumer sentiment and trust, has released a report breaking down public trust in American universities. They asked 11,050 adults about their level of trust for the top 135 universities listed in US News and World Reports.

On the full list above, the highest ranking public university is UNC Chapel Hill at 18. Of the top 46, there are only 10 public universities.
However the trust of higher ed broadly is far above that of many other large US institutions, beating out the government, the media, and corporations by quite a lot.

The trust levels stratify along several different lines, most noticeably Democrats and Republicans (Democrats are more likely to trust any higher ed), generation (Gen Z is the least likely to trust higher ed, in spite of the fact that they are generally more left than the older generations), and interestingly between Gen Z and Students, since most of the current population of college students falls into Gen Z. This could indicate a large population of young adults who didn’t or couldn’t attend school and hold a lot of distrust for education, since currently only 42.1% of people 18-24 are enrolled in college (although many would likely have graduated already). Exploring the origins of this distrust and the population breakdown could provide insight for groups that higher ed still needs to make inroads on.
Interestingly, the most trusted universities are not exactly the most sought after or selective. They are generally extremely selective colleges, but the fact that Johns Hopkins ranks more than 10 percentage points above the highest ranking Ivy League School (Cornell) might say something about the effect of their perceived status.
But the low ranking of public universities further splits students who are fortunate enough to attend the clique of prestigious colleges and the approximately 74% of students who attend a (almost universally more affordable) public university. It is often far to easy to focus on the goings on for a handful of elite universities whose graduates make up a large portion of the politicians and business leaders, but the vast majority of students go through a far more local public college experience, and without public trust, they might not do well in the rocky future that seems likely for education.
More Stories
Blackboard’s LMS marketshare shrinks for another year as Canvas’ dominance grows
In recent years, the learning management industry has grown rapidly as technology and innovations continue to transform the way that...
3 Ways ChatGPT can help teachers and 5 reasons it won’t replace them
Ever since ChatGPT came on the scene there have been a lot of hysterical articles detailing why education will never...
ChatGPT and the Future of Education at FETC
The FETC conference is going on right now in New Orleans and sadly, the conference has a paltry online offering....
44% of Graduates Regret their College Majors
Although we have talked about the problems with higher education, there is no question that a college degree is becoming...
HMH is buying NWEA: The giants keep getting giant-er
There is further consolidation in the EdTech industry as a publishing giant, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is buying the Oregon-based assessment...
Universities endowments just keep growing
It has been said that these days top-tier universities are just hedge funds with admissions departments. Many US university endowments...