CHAPEL HILL – A recent Gallup survey of UNC System graduates found that almost two-thirds – 64 percent – strongly agreed that their education was worth the cost. That’s 14 points higher than the percentage of graduates nationally who feel that way.

But officials would do well to study the responses of the system’s most recent alums.

Among those who graduated from UNC System schools from 2010-18, just 46 percent strongly agreed that their education was worth the cost.

That coincides with the period when state support was reduced by more than $2,000 per student, tuition rose steadily and, as a result, so did student debt.¹

“UNC System graduates who received their degree in the last decade are the least likely to strongly agree that their education was worth the cost, a pattern that mirrors that of college graduates nationally,” Gallup found.

“Older alumni might be further along in their careers and making more money, and they usually faced lower costs of attendance than recent graduates. 

“On the other end of the spectrum, recent graduates are more likely to be making student loan payments, which could influence their perceptions of value. They may also be given job duties that do not yet allow them to fully align the value of their education in preparing them for their work responsibilities.”²

State officials should heed the warning in the numbers: When you reduce state support and the price goes up, your “customers” aren’t as satisfied. If we’re supposed to run government more like a business, that should include keeping those “customers” happy.

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¹https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2019/06/wws-public-universities/.
²https://www.northcarolina.edu/sites/default/files/unc_system_alumni_survey_report_final.pdf, pp. 11-12.