Is a college degree worth it? Huge generational divide found in new poll

Brendan Rascius, The Charlotte Observer on Apr 25, 2025

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A college education was once broadly seen as a gateway to success, as a guaranteed route to achieving the American dream.

But now, university degrees are losing their allure with younger generations — as their financial payoff comes into question and as concerns about artificial intelligence rise, according to a new poll.

In a Harris Poll survey for Indeed, a majority of Gen Z respondents, 51%, said their degree was a waste of money. By contrast, 41% of millennials and just 20% of baby boomers said the same.

Conducted March 27-31, the poll sampled 772 U.S. adults who hold an associate degree or higher. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

Student debt appears to be a major factor in the devaluation of diplomas.

Most respondents, 52%, said they graduated with student debt. And millennials, in particular, were hit hard, as 58% said they left college owing money.

Further, 38% of respondents said they believe their college debt has “hindered their professional growth more than their degree helped.”

And those who graduated with debt were more likely to say that their degree was not worth it than those who graduated without owing money — 41% versus 31%, respectively.

Many young Americans also believe the skills learned in college are not necessarily needed in the workplace.

More than two-thirds of Gen Z respondents, 68%, said they think they could function at their job sans their degree. Less than half of baby boomers, 49%, said the same.

Yet, 67% of respondents said they would be upset if they discovered their coworkers “obtained the same or similar role without a degree.”

The rise of artificial intelligence — commonly used in platforms like ChatGPT — has also driven pessimism about college degrees.

Among all respondents, 30% said AI has rendered their degree unimportant, while 45% of Gen Z respondents said the same.

The poll comes as college education still yields higher pay for workers over their lifetimes, though rates of return have “declined modestly” in the past decade, according to a 2024 New York University study of 5.8 million Americans.

There are also significant differences in payoffs by field of study, with computer science and engineering having the highest rates of return and humanities, education and arts majors attaining the lowest rates of return.

The poll also comes as the cost of college has risen dramatically — with tuition and fees going up by about 41% over the past 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report.

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