(TNND) — Most parents of recent college graduates believe their child’s education was worth the investment, according to a newly published survey from the Art & Science Group, a consulting firm that works with nonprofit educational institutions.
Parents mentioned their child’s personal growth alongside improved job prospects as key reasons they encouraged college attendance.
Craig Goebel, a principal at Art & Science Group, said a narrative has emerged that the public has lost faith in the value of higher education.
A recent NBC News poll, for example, found just a third of the public saw a four-year degree as worth the cost – down from around half of respondents less than a decade ago.
But Art & Science Group’s previous surveys of high schoolers showed strong support for the value proposition of going to college.
So, Goebel said Art & Science Group polled parents of students who graduated from college within the last five to 10 years to see if they aligned more with the views of perspective college students or more with the views of the general public.
And they found 83% of parents viewed the financial investment in their child’s education as worthwhile.
Goebel said they were pleased to see parents are generally happy that their kid went to college, but they know an imperfect score leaves room for improvement.
“We’re striving for the ‘A-plus,’ and in fact we find that we’re more in the ‘B,’ ‘B-plus’ range,” Goebel said.
FILE – Students walk on campus during the first day of the fall 2022 semester. (Courtesy Oklahoma State University)
Around two-thirds of parents said college contributed substantially to their child’s professional advancement.
Around three-quarters said they would have made the same decisions about their child’s college experience in retrospect.
Looking back, just over half of parents said they primarily wanted their kid to go to college simply to find “success in life.”
Goebel said that was a broad answer from parents that shows parents and students want different things from a higher education.
“There is no silver bullet when it comes to what we found parents are looking for to get out of college and whether they have delivered on that or not,” Goebel said.
The second-highest motivating factor (44%) was to help their child grow into an independent and capable adult.
The third-highest motivating factor (40%) was to help their child secure better job prospects.
Higher earnings potential (33%) rated fourth on the list of reasons why parents encouraged college.
Goebel said they were somewhat surprised the long-term earnings potential didn’t rank higher, but it showed parents aren’t all looking at college through a purely transactional lens.
Parents of preprofessional and STEM graduates were more likely to report that college was worth it than those of graduates with humanities, arts, and social science degrees. But Goebel said the difference wasn’t anywhere near as dramatic as they expected.
Goebel said this national survey, Art & Science Group’s inaugural “parentPOLL” after a long history of surveys under the “studentPOLL” banner, showed different groups of parents are looking for different outcomes from college for their children.
And he said it may point to an opportunity for colleges to zero in on what they can best offer as a unique experience or benefit to prospective students.