The 101: The Higher Ed Poll of Texas

The 101 poll shows that a majority of Texans (60 percent) who don’t view their job as a career believe they need more education or training to move ahead and 78 percent believe that a degree or certification is essential to improving their careers. For four years, the poll shows that most Texans believe that affordability (75 percent) and student debt (79 percent) remain major obstacles to earning a degree among those who lack one. And of those polled who say student debt is a major problem, 93 percent believe that having a degree beyond high school is either very important (67 percent) or somewhat important (26 percent). Despite concerns about cost, most Texans with degrees say the cost was worth it in both economic and personal terms.

Among Texans polled:

• 93 percent of Texans agree that it is essential to have an educated workforce if Texas’ economy is going to compete with other states.
• Among those without a college degree, financial concerns top obstacles for not completing a college degree. The number one obstacle cited was “the cost of a degree” (75 percent), followed by job or work responsibilities (66 percent) and taking on student loan debt (65 percent).
• Both Texans with and without student loan debt see student debt as a major problem. Overall, 79 percent of Texans view the problem of student loan debt for people in the United States as a “major problem,” including 77 percent of those who currently hold no student loan debt themselves.
• 65 percent of those with associate’s degrees, 77 percent of those with college degrees, and 72 percent of those with graduate degrees say the cost of their education has or will pay off.
• Texans agree that having a degree or certificate beyond high school is somewhat or very important (93 percent), and that those degrees are a source of pride for most people (93 percent); lead to a higher income (87 percent) and a better quality of life (83 percent); increases the respect one receives from others (81 percent); and are essential for getting a good job (78 percent).
• Among those who say that they need more education and training to get the job or career that they want, would do so at a community college (33 percent) or enroll at a 4-year public college or university (35 percent).

The 101: The Higher Ed Poll of Texas was conducted between January 7-13, 2019 and drawn from 5,500 records to yield 800 completed interviews. The final data set is weighted by race/ethnicity, age, and gender to achieve representativeness as defined by the Texas State Health Department’s population projections for the 2018 Texas Adult Population. The overall margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.46 percentage points. The survey was designed and conducted by public opinion researchers James Henson, Ph.D. and Joshua Blank, Ph.D., SRATEX, LLC.