A new poll has found that almost two-thirds of registered voters do not think a four-year college degree is worth the cost, because “people often graduate without specific job skills and with large amounts of debt.” The results are part of a dramatic shift over the last 12 years. Similar polling in 2013 found that 53 percent of respondents thought a degree was worth it compared, to 40 percent who did not. By 2017, Americans were more evenly split on the question, with a slight majority, or 49 percent still saying the cost was worth it, compared to 47 percent who said no. Now, 63 percent of respondents in the NBC News poll said the cost of a four-year degree is not worth it, compared to just 33 percent who said a degree is “worth the cost because of the chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime.” People with advanced college degrees still earn more and have lower unemployment rates than people without education, but the price of college has skyrocketed since 1995. The average, inflation-adjusted cost for public colleges has doubled since then, while tuition at private college has gone up by 75 percent.
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