Yes, but to get a complete picture you must also poll the people who started college and dropped out.
And remember also that most of them will be burdened with student loan debt.
The vast majority of high school students plan to attend college--and believe that a bachelor's degree all but guarantees them a high-paying job. What many of them don't know is that those who are not well prepared are not likely to graduate. They also don't realize that plenty of career-focused certificates and associate's degrees lead to satisfying careers that pay just as well as, and sometimes better than, careers that require a bachelor's degree.
On average, people with degrees in classical liberal arts subjects or subjects like engineering or science or economics presumably end up with interesting higher-paying jobs. But I'm not sure how people with degrees in watered-down subjects fare.
It really bothers me to see colleges granting degrees to people without requiring them to spend a lot of time thinking carefully and analyzing stuff (e.g. complex math problems or analyzing a novel or historical event and writing a paper). People who haven't learned this skill aren't truly educated in a classical sense of the term. Plus, as studies have been showing, they aren't learning the skills required to analyze a situation and make sense of it.
Here's an example of grade inflation trends and reduced learning outcomes in American colleges and universities.
A question Beckee and anyone else who's arguing in favor of encouraging everyone to go to college: what do you think of all the information that's been presented on this thread showing some very negative effects of pushing everyone to go to college?
