Twelve findings have emerged from this study of Californians, conducted in the fall of 1996, and a comparison of these results to a related study Public Agenda conducted in 1993.
Enduring Values
Finding One: A college or university education is essential for a decent job and a middle-class lifestyle. By margins of more than six to one (78 percent to 12 percent), Californians believe that young people will have better job prospects if they go on to college than if they take job offers right out of high school.
Finding Two: No one who is qualified and motivated should be denied a college education because of lack of money. Eighty-one percent of Californians believe we should not allow the price of a college education to keep students who are qualified and motivated to go to college from doing so.
Finding Three: A successful college education depends on the motivation and dedication that a student brings to it. Seventy-five percent believe the benefit a student gets from attending college mostly depends upon how much of an effort he or she puts into it.
Changing Concerns
Finding Four: While Californians are still deeply concerned about access to higher education, they are less anxious than they were in 1993. During our first study, Californians were experiencing both a prolonged recession and unprecedented hikes in fees for public higher education. Californians felt trapped in a situation where a college education was both increasingly important and increasingly inaccessible. Today the state's economy is much stronger and college fee increases have been frozen for the last several years. As a result, anxiety has dropped considerably compared to what we saw three years ago. The percentage of people who feel getting a college education has become more difficult than it was 10 years ago now stands at 54 percent, as compared to 67 percent who felt this way in 1993.
Finding Five: Californians are now less likely to call for a fundamental overhaul of the state's public higher education system. In 1993, 64 percent said that they wanted to see the state's public higher education system fundamentally overhauled. Today, presumably in response to decreased anxiety about higher education, that percentage has dropped to 44 percent.
Finding Six: Although Californians are now less anxious about access to higher education, they are more resistant to price increases. Sixty-four percent say it is a poor idea to raise college prices, up from 52 percent in 1993.
Finding Seven: Californians are now more likely to value college education for what is learned. The percentage of Californians who believe too many people are going to college instead of attending alternatives to college, such as trade schools, has dropped from 54 percent in 1993 to 41 percent today.
Dealing With Tidal Wave II
Many observers believe California's higher education institutions will soon be faced with a second "tidal wave" of students comparable in size to the arrival of the baby-boomers in the late sixties. This study asked Californians how the state should respond to this projected onslaught.
Finding Eight: Californians strongly support more effective use of existing higher education facilities and making more college-level courses available to high school students. Ninety-five percent of Californians favor the idea of offering more classes in the evening and over the summer and 87 percent support encouraging high school students to take more college-level courses so they can spend less time in college.
Finding Nine: Californians also support building new campuses, allowing students to go to private institutions, and using new technologies. Forty-three percent strongly support building new campuses and 32 percent somewhat support this idea; 39 percent strongly support, and 35 percent somewhat support, using scholarship money to help students attend private colleges to free up space at public universities; an almost equally large percentage say that they want colleges to utilize new technologies.
Finding Ten: Californians favor supporting students rather than supporting institutions. Fifty-two percent say if the state government has more money for college education it should give that money to qualified students in scholarships for public or private schools rather than giving it to public colleges directly.
Finding Eleven: For Californians, the least acceptable approach is limiting access. By margins of two to one (61 percent to 32 percent) Californians oppose the idea of accepting a smaller percentage of the people who apply to the public colleges and universities.
Finding Twelve: Who should bear the responsibility for necessary changes? Fifty percent think colleges and universities should teach more classes and cut costs, as compared to 46 percent who think the state should spend more in tax money and 23 percent who want to see students and their parents pay higher fees.