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Finding One: New Yorkers believe that higher education is vitally important for success in the contemporary world.

In early 2000, Public Agenda surveyed 500 New Yorkers statewide to determine their attitudes toward higher education. In many ways, the attitudes of New Yorkers regarding higher education are strikingly similar to the views of the nation as a whole, as revealed in our broader survey of public attitudes, Great Expectations: How the Public and Parents White, African American, and Hispanic View Higher Education. Four major conclusions emerged from our New York research, which are also supported by what we found nationwide.

For the purpose of this research, we define higher education broadly to include all education and training beyond high school, including two- and four-year, public and private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions.

Most people in New York believe that a higher education is essential for a person to succeed in today's world. In effect, New York residents now see a college education as having replaced a high school diploma as the minimum entry ticket to a solid job and a middle-class lifestyle.

In the survey we found:

• Fully 88% strongly or somewhat agree that a college degree has become as important as a high school diploma used to be.
• Only 20% think that it is possible to reach a point where too many people have a college degree; the overwhelming majority (76%) believe that this is one area where there can never be too much of a good thing.

As higher education is being seen as more important for success in todayÕs economy and society, the public is also placing a premium on the significance of preserving access to higher education for anyone who is sufficiently qualified and motivated. In effect, New Yorkers see access to higher education as equivalent to access to the American dream. They believe that it is vitally important that we provide adequate opportunities for a higher education to all qualified and motivated individuals. Specifically, New Yorkers do not want students to be excluded from a college education by cost alone. Seventy-seven percent strongly agree that we should not allow the price of a college education to keep qualified and motivated students from going to college.

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© 2000 The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education