Two-thirds of English public doubt value of university degrees

The proportion of the general public in England who believe a degree is not good value for money has hit a record high, while fewer people think graduates are better off in the long term than non-graduates, according to research.

Most people also support a cap on the number of international students that UK universities are permitted to enrol, according to the results of the latest British Social Attitudes survey, released on 2 June.

A report on the public’s views produced by the National Centre for Social Research shows that the value of higher education is increasingly being called into question, with 34 per cent of respondents saying university education “isn’t worth the amount of time and money it usually takes”.

This is the first time the figure has climbed above 20 per cent, and is up from 14 per cent in 2005.

The proportion of people who believe that graduates end up financially better off than non-graduates has also fallen to the lowest level on record, at 36 per cent.

The survey found that more than two-thirds (77 per cent) of the general public believe that a degree does not represent good value for money, up from 51 per cent when the question was last asked in 2014.

“While a university education has been seen as a traditional route to good job prospects and a more financially secure future, the public appears to be becoming less convinced that this promise is being fulfilled,” the report says.

The survey’s findings come amid debates about the fairness of the student loan system as graduates face mounting debt levels.

However, the report found that sceptical views about the merits of higher education “do not appear to be grounded in any increased concern about the debts incurred by graduates being unpayable”.

The survey was conducted between August and October 2025 – before the government’s controversial decision to freeze the student loan repayment threshold in the latest budget.

Although about two-thirds of people (65 per cent) agree that “the cost of going to university leaves many students with debts that they can’t afford to repay”, this figure is lower than that recorded in 2005 (74 per cent), when fees were substantially lower, the report notes.

Despite subsequent tuition fee increases, the survey found, attitudes towards who should pay for the costs of tuition have remained “fairly stable”, with the majority of people believing that some students or their families should contribute.

The results show that older graduates who did not pay for university are more likely to think that students should contribute, with 84 per cent holding this view, compared with 59 per cent of those with degrees who would have been liable to pay tuition fees.

“Enthusiasm for students bearing the costs of tuition is being driven, therefore, at least partly by those who would not have had personal experience in incurring them,” the report says.

The survey also polled adults about their attitudes towards international students, finding that about two-thirds of people in England (67 per cent) believe the government should set limits on the number of foreign students that universities can enrol.

While a clear majority of Reform UK (85 per cent) and Conservative Party (74 per cent) supporters think the government should restrict international recruitment, more than half of the supporters of left-wing parties back such a limit, too.

The report concludes that while the public is “less convinced than it once” was that going to university is beneficial, “these sentiments have not yet translated into a concrete reaction against the size of the university sector”.

“Although support for reducing opportunities to go on to university is comparatively high, a majority still feel opportunities are either at the right level or should be increased,” it says.

Alex Scholes, research director at the National Centre for Social Research and co-author of the report, said it appears that “recent debates about the fairness of student loan repayment systems and the [impact] of AI on the job market have filtered through to people’s views about the value of a degree”.

British universities are experiencing ongoing financial pressures, with 40 per cent expected to be in a deficit this year.

“If public confidence continues to fall, we risk seeing the financial situation become even worse,” said Scholes.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com