Recently, my newsfeed served up the newest round of doom-scroll headlines:
• “Why Americans Have Lost Faith in College” – Wall Street Journal
• “Gen Z Says Four-Year Degrees Have ‘No ROI’” – Forbes
• “Majority of Voters Doubt Higher-Ed Value” – Inside Higher Ed
Read quickly, these stories suggest that Americans have turned away from higher education altogether. Read closely, they reveal something subtler: we haven’t lost faith in the payoff of a degree; we’re suspicious of the price tag and the purchasing process.
The real question isn’t “Is college worth it?” but “Is college worth it to me?”
Gallup and the Lumina Foundation’s latest State of Higher Education study, focused on U.S. adults who have never finished a credential, makes the split crystal-clear. Among those surveyed, 70% call a bachelor’s degree “extremely” or “very” valuable, and 86% believe any degree pays for itself within 10 years. Yet, only 18% think four-year tuition prices are fair. Cost outranks every other barrier to enrollment.
Existing college students echo the same math: 90% of those working toward an associate or bachelor’s degree say their investment is worth it, yet fewer than half believe higher ed is doing an excellent job of controlling costs. The “return” side of return on investment is alive and well; however, the research tells us that the “investment” side feels broken to potential college-goers.
That gap is an invitation—especially for institutions that serve working adults—to redesign how the investment works. It is time for institutions to overhaul how they present the investment: make costs transparent, programs accessible, and outcomes verifiable.
Price Transparency
Most people shop for a car or a house a handful of times, but they may purchase higher education only once. That inexperience leaves adults guessing what finishing a college degree should cost. Today’s learners are looking for something radically simple: programs that are transparent in cost, realistic about time, and clear on career outcomes.
Unfortunately, many institutions still obscure the true cost of attendance behind net price calculators, outdated estimates, or complex aid packages that require financial fluency to decode. A 2019 University of Pennsylvania AHEAD (Alliance for Higher Education of Democracy) Research Brief states only one-third of institutions clearly display their net price calculators, and more than half rely on outdated or incomplete data, creating confusion rather than clarity at one of the most important decision points for students.
Real Life Accessibility
Affordability isn’t just about tuition. It’s about time. Working adults, parents, and career changers now make up a huge portion of the college-going population. For them, a rigid academic calendar or multi-year delay in return on investment (ROI) can be a dealbreaker.
Flexibility is becoming a key metric of value. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that nearly 56% of graduate students take at least one online course, and more than one-third are enrolled exclusively online. This is a clear signal that asynchronous and stackable formats are now the norm, not the exception. Programs that allow students to pause and resume, stack credentials, and get credit for prior learning don’t just make school more accessible: they accelerate the return on investment.
Assured Quality
Skepticism isn’t just financial, it’s practical. Students want proof that the coursework they’re doing now will lead to the job and career path they want later. New America broke down the news that the recent Senate bill lays out the framework for colleges and universities by holding them accountable for delivering value to those they enroll. The goal is for students to come out more valuable to jobs than those who do not attend higher education.
The Gallup-Lumina study found that 78% of students who rate their academic program “excellent” also say their courses are very well aligned with their desired career. Among students who rate their program as “good,” “fair,” or “poor,” that number drops below 50%.
Accreditation remains a baseline for legitimacy, but learners want more. They want to see industry partnerships, applied learning, and evidence that programs are updated to match employer needs. That alignment between learning and labor is quickly becoming the gold standard.
How to tell if a program is worth it for you:
- Demand an honest, itemized cost estimate before you apply.
- Ask how often new terms start and how many credits you can transfer.
- Confirm institutional and, where relevant, programmatic accreditation.
If a school balks at any of those questions, keep searching.
Higher education doesn’t need a rescue mission; it needs an update in how we present the bill, respect adults’ calendars and prove quality. Do that, and the conversation shifts from broad skepticism to informed choice. When the investment is transparent and tailored, the answer to “Is my investment worth it?” becomes a confident yes.
Dale Leatherwood serves as chief marketing officer for Columbia Southern University. With nearly three decades of marketing and executive experience in training and higher education, Leatherwood has been a marketing executive for colleges and higher-education focused marketing agencies, and co-founded an education concierge firm serving working professionals seeking an online degree. Leatherwood earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Coker University and an MBA with a marketing concentration from Regis University.
