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Despite a steady decline in college enrollment over the last decade, adults' interest in pursuing some form of higher education is at the highest level that Lumina Foundation and Gallup have recorded. At the same time, 94% of adults say at least one kind of postsecondary credential — such as an associate degree, bachelor's degree, certificate or industry certification — is very valuable.
But while interest is high, significant barriers to enrollment and completion remain, with cost leading the way as it has in previous years. Download Gallup and Lumina Foundation's State of Higher Education 2024 report to learn more about U.S. adults' interest in pursuing higher education, what's keeping them from enrolling and what's causing currently enrolled students to consider stopping out.
Despite a steady decline in college enrollment over the last decade, adults' interest in pursuing some form of higher education is at the highest level that Lumina Foundation and Gallup have recorded. At the same time, 94% of adults say at least one kind of postsecondary credential — such as an associate degree, bachelor's degree, certificate or industry certification — is very valuable.
But while interest is high, significant barriers to enrollment and completion remain, with cost leading the way as it has in previous years. Download Gallup and Lumina Foundation's State of Higher Education 2024 report to learn more about U.S. adults' interest in pursuing higher education, what's keeping them from enrolling and what's causing currently enrolled students to consider stopping out.
Results for the Lumina-Gallup Study are based on web surveys conducted from Oct. 9-Nov. 16, 2023, with samples of 6,015 students who are currently enrolled in a postsecondary education program (certificate, associate or bachelor’s degree), 5,012 adults who were previously enrolled in a postsecondary education program but had not completed an associate or bachelor’s degree, and 3,005 adults who had never enrolled in a postsecondary education program.
All respondents were between the ages of 18 and 59 and had a high school diploma or equivalent but not an associate or bachelor’s degree.
Of the currently enrolled students, 2,532 say they are pursuing a bachelor’s degree, 1,468 are pursuing an associate degree, 1,373 are pursuing a certificate and 642 are pursuing an industry certification.
Respondents were interviewed via Dynata’s non-probability web-based panel.
The data are weighted to match national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education and region for the population of U.S. adults ages 18 to 59 with a high school diploma but without a college degree. Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recent American Community Survey figures.
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