The American public and senior administrators at U.S. colleges and universities overwhelmingly agree that higher education is in crisis, according to a new poll, but they fundamentally disagree over how to fix it and even what the main purpose of higher education is. According to a survey sponsored by TIME and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 89% of U.S. adults and 96% of senior administrators at colleges and universities said higher education is in crisis, and nearly 4 in 10 in both groups considered the crisis to be “severe.” But half of the college leaders (52%) said the state of higher education is moving in the right direction, while half of the general public (54%) said it’s on the wrong track. The two groups also disagree over the value of a college diploma and how to curb the increases in tuition costs and student-debt loads. (MORE: The Student-Debt Epidemic: 1 in 5 Households Now Owe Student Loans) The Web-based poll, conducted by GfK Custom Research North America from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, surveyed a national sample of 1,000 U.S. adults and 540 senior administrators at public and private two- and four-year colleges and universities. The poll noted that the average debt load for college students who took out loans and graduated in 2010 was $25,250. Three-quarters of college leaders (74%) said they thought this was a reasonable amount of debt for a college degree, but only 38% of the public agreed with them. A majority of the public (55%) thought this debt load was too high, compared with 24% of college leaders. Likewise, members of the general popuation were twice as likely as college leaders to say that college isn’t worth the price: 80% of U.S. adults agreed that at many colleges, the education students receive is not worth what they pay for it. Only 41% of college leaders agreed with them. Similarly, more Americans support federal price caps or controls on tuition (73%) than do college leaders (16%), largely because the public doesn’t seem to think colleges can control costs … Continue reading Higher-Education Poll