College is getting a big, fat “F.”

A record-low number of Americans believe attending college is crucial for success, according to a new survey.

Just three in ten (31%) of Americans said in a new Gallup poll that they believe post-high-school education is “very important.”

A new Gallup survey found a record-low number of Americans believe attending college is “very important” for becoming successful. USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectThe Gallup poll also found that 39% believe college is “fairly important” for success. Gallup

That is the lowest the Gallup pollsters have recorded since they began asking the question in 1978 — and marks a staggering drop from 2013, when seven in ten Americans (70%) said they believed attending university was essential.

Still, the survey doesn’t show an outright rejection of higher education — around four in 10 people (39%) said they believe attending college is “fairly important.”

Negative views of tertiary education were seen across the political aisle, with Democrats, Republicans and Independents all less likely to say college was “very important” than they were in 2019.

However, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to see college as “very important,” the poll found.

UCLA Anderson Full-Time MBA Advantage students walk together on the UCLA campus in Westwood, California, Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Around 40% of Democrats thought higher learning was very important, compared with just 22% of Republicans and 34% of independents.

Gallup surveyed 1,200 adults in the US by phone from Aug. 3 through Aug. 24 for the poll, which has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4%.

The decline comes as many Americans worry about the cost of higher education.

Only 12% of adults said a four-year degree is affordable, a separate Lumina Foundation-Gallup survey from June showed. 

But even so, a third Gallup survey found that 59% of parents said they want their child to go straight to a two- or four-year college after high school.