Data from the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, released today, shows that the pandemic has not weakened student trust in higher education overall. In fact, trust in higher education globally has increased by three percentage points since 2019, withStudents in 46% of the 28 countries surveyed said that they trust higher education, up from 43% last year.
The increase in trust is driven by a jump in trust among Gen Z students, who are attending or will soon be attending college. In 2020, 50% of Gen Z students said they trust higher education globally, compared to just 39% last year.
The pandemic has also not had a significant impact on students’ views of their own universities. In 2020, 63% of students said they trust their university, unchanged from 2019.
There are, however, some notable exceptions. In the United States, trust in higher education has declined sharply, from 54% in 2019 to 45% in 2020. This is driven by a decrease in trust among Gen Z students, who are attending or will soon be attending college. In 2020, just 37% of Gen Z students in the United States said they trust higher education, down from 50% last year.
The decline in trust in the United States is in line with a general decline in trust in all institutions, including the government, media, and business.
The Edelman Trust Barometer is a global survey of more than 33,000 people, including 1,000 students, in 28 countries.
Despite the significant challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ faith in higher education has not been weakened overall, according to a new study.
The research, conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, found that 80.4 percent of first-time college students who enrolled in the fall of 2020 say they still believe that a college degree is worth the cost.
This is a slight decrease from the 82.1 percent of students who said the same thing in the fall of 2019.
“While the pandemic has created some challenges and uncertainties for students and campuses, it has not diminished students’ overall trust in the value of higher education,” said Dr. Doug Shapiro, executive research director at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The study also found that nearly half of students (49.4 percent) said the pandemic had no impact on their decision to enroll in college.
Of those who were impacted, the most common reason cited was a desire to take advantage of lower tuition rates (19.6 percent).
Other reasons included a desire to take classes online (9.9 percent) and a desire to take a gap year (8.2 percent).
“The data show that students remain committed to pursuing their college education despite the pandemic,” Shapiro said.
The study surveyed more than 33,000 first-time college students who enrolled in the fall of 2020.
