New Survey Results
Public opinion poll reveals optimistic views
about California higher education

Support for affordable public higher education for all qualified students remains strong among Californians of voting age, a poll conducted for the California Higher Education Policy Center has found.

After three years of a stronger state economy and a tuition freeze in all three public higher education systems, state residents are less worried that the opportunity for an affordable college education might be slipping away, Public Agenda found in a telephone poll of 800 Californians age 18 or older. More extensive telephone interviews were conducted with some respondents.

Public Agenda is a non-profit, non-partisan research and citizen education organization

Three years ago, in Public Agenda's first poll for the policy center, the public expressed concern that California's tradition of inexpensive higher education for all qualified students might be eroding in the face of severe state budget cuts and escalating college costs.

That concern has lessened in the follow-up poll, but Californians still firmly believe that higher education is essential for job success and that the state should offer a college education to all qualified students at a price they can afford.

"People are feeling somewhat less anxious" than they were three years ago, said John Immerwahr, who supervised both polls. "But their fundamental concerns remain unchanged: Nothing should come in the way of making it possible for every qualified and motivated student in the state to be able to receive an affordable higher education."

Immerwahr is a senior research fellow at the Public Agenda Foundation and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Villanova University.

Among the key findings of the new survey are these:

• Seventy-nine percent of those polled said the most important goal of a college education is to give a student "marketable skills."

• Eighty-one percent of respondents said the cost of a college education should not keep qualified students from attending.

• Fifty-four percent said California should "maintain its commitment" to "affordable, high-quality education to almost all eligible students, even if it costs a lot more in tax money." Only 18 percent said the state should cut back on this commitment, even if this means turning away qualified students.

Immerwahr called this a "striking" response in light of the general opposition to tax increases throughout today's society.

Although national political leaders and others have focused on the difficulties that middle-class families face in paying college bills, Californians think the problem lies farther down the economic ladder. Fifty-two percent said qualified students from low-income families have less opportunity to attend college than others; only 22 percent said qualified students from middle-class families face that difficulty.

While Californians want to maintain easy access to college, they also believe that motivation is the most important reason for student success. Seventy-five percent expressed that belief, while only 13 percent thought success depended on the quality of the college.

In a related finding, 68 percent agreed with the statement that students "don't appreciate the value of a college education when they have no personal responsibility for paying what it costs."

The public's more optimistic mood was shown by a decline in the number of people who believe higher education has become more difficult to obtain and will become even more so in the near future. Fifty-four percent said it is harder to get a college education than it was ten years ago-67 percent said that in the 1993 poll-while 64 percent said it will be more difficult ten years from now-a drop from 73 percent in 1993.

Three years ago, 64 percent of those surveyed thought conditions in California higher education were so bad that a "fundamental overhaul" of the system was needed. In the latest poll, that number fell to 44 percent.

There also is less concern that students are borrowing too much to pay for college, and that students are unable to get the classes they need to graduate in a reasonable time.

The poll found support for the idea of giving money directly to qualified students, instead of to public colleges and universities. Fifty-two percent liked the idea of awarding state scholarships that could be used at either public or private institutions.

In response to a series of questions about how the state should handle the heavy additional demand for higher education that is forecast in the next decade, respondents again showed a strong interest in maintaining access for all qualified students and for keeping costs as low as possible.

Only 32 percent said the state should deal with the problem by limiting enrollment. Only 23 percent said students and their families should pay higher fees. But 50 percent agreed with the statement that faculty members and administrators should teach more classes and should cut costs.

Ninety-five percent said public campuses should offer more classes in the evenings, on weekends and in the summer, in order to accommodate more students. Eighty-seven percent favored encouraging students to take more college-level courses while in high school, so they could graduate from college sooner and make room for others.

There also was strong support for using television, the Internet and other technological means to reach larger numbers of students. In lesser numbers, Californians also support building new campuses, but clearly prefer to utilize existing campuses first.

"People look at solutions in terms of their own values," Immerwahr said. "Anything that increases access to college or rewards motivated students is likely to meet with their approval."