Higher Education

Americans overwhelmingly see small businesses as having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. By contrast, their views of large corporations are broadly negative. And most people – including identical shares in both parties – are critical of the impact of banks and financial institutions.

College enrollment among young Americans has been declining over the past decade, and it's mostly due to fewer young men pursuing degrees.

In 2021, nearly 2.5 million Latinos in the United States held advanced degrees such as master’s degrees or doctorates.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to limit affirmative action in higher education is likely to have the biggest impact on a relatively small group of schools.

Here’s a closer look at what recent surveys have found about Americans’ views of affirmative action.

About half of Asian adults who have heard of affirmative action (53%) say it is a good thing, 19% say it is a bad thing, and 27% say they don’t know whether it is good or bad. However, about three-quarters of all Asian adults (76%) say race or ethnicity should not factor into college admissions decisions.

Half of U.S. adults say they disapprove of selective colleges and universities taking prospective students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds into account when making admissions decisions. 33% approve of colleges considering race and ethnicity to increase diversity at the schools, while 16% are not sure.

In the 118th Congress, 94% of representatives and all but one senator hold at least a bachelor’s degree, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

Hispanic enrollment at postsecondary institutions in the U.S. has risen from 1.5 million in 2000 to a new high of 3.8 million in 2019.

Both the number and share of new college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in education have decreased over the last few decades.