North Texas leaders address declining trust in higher education

Public confidence in American colleges and universities has declined significantly, prompting a discussion among regional higher education leaders about how to restore that trust. The conversation took place Tuesday at Southern Methodist University, which is located in Richardson, a city approximately 12 miles north of Dallas.

The event was organized by The Dallas Morning News and featured a group of experts addressing the challenges facing the sector.

The panel was moderated by Milla Surjadi, a reporter for The Dallas Morning News who covers higher education topics.

The group included Warren von Eschenbach, president of the University of North Texas at Dallas; Michael Harris, dean of SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development; Nakia Douglas, a former executive director at the Dallas Education Collective and UNT Dallas; Sondra Barringer, an associate professor of higher education at SMU; and Marc Christensen, the incoming executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Texas at Dallas.

According to data from Gallup, only 42 percent of Americans expressed a high level of confidence in higher education institutions in 2025. This figure represents a slight increase from the previous two years, during which confidence hit an all-time low of 36 percent. Historically, universities were viewed as centers for free speech and reliable pathways to better earnings.

However, the landscape has shifted considerably over recent decades.

Harris noted that the end of World War II led to substantial federal investment in research universities, making a college degree more critical for economic success. As public support for these institutions decreased in the 1980s, schools began to rely more heavily on tuition revenue.

This shift contributed to the current student debt crisis, with the Federal Student Aid office reporting that 43 million Americans currently carry student loans.

Barringer questioned how institutions can justify rising tuition costs when the associated financial burden on students is so severe. She and Christensen agreed that public perception often focuses too narrowly on the price of a degree rather than the long-term improvements to quality of life that education typically provides.

Despite these known benefits, many families, particularly those with lower incomes, struggle to see the value in investing in higher education when they are focused on immediate financial survival.

Douglas highlighted that for families in survival mode, the immediate need to pay bills often outweighs the long-term returns of a degree. Additionally, the panelists pointed to the increasing role of politics in higher education. Harris explained that as college degrees became linked to voting patterns, campuses became targets for political attacks.

This politicization has resulted in decreased federal research funding, further complicating the environment for educational institutions.

Source: yahoo.com.

Sources

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/public-trust-colleges-universities-took-110000263.html