Poll: Many Californians believe college is key, but out of reach

Staff writer
Sign On San Diego
Oct 31, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO – Many Californians believe a college education is key but consider it out of reach, a new poll says.

Nearly two-thirds, or 64 percent, of people surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California, said a person must have a college education to succeed in the workplace. Three-fourths, or 76 percent, said the state's college system was “very important” to the future of California.

However, more than half, 56 percent, of respondents thought getting a college education was more difficult now than a decade ago. A majority, 65 percent, said that many qualified students don't have the opportunity to attend college.

“This makes for a high-anxiety issue,” PPIC president and CEO Mark Baldassare said in a statement on the survey results released Wednesday. “People are saying that the very thing they need to be successful, that their children need to be successful, and that the state needs to be successful, may not be attainable.”

More than 80 percent of residents said that the cost of college is at least somewhat of a problem and 53 percent said it was a big problem.

Different demographic groups had different opinions on accessibility.

On the question of whether the vast majority of qualified students have the opportunity to attend college, 42 percent of Asian and 40 percent of whites said yes, but 82 percent of Hispanics and 75 percent of blacks answered no.

The PPIC Statewide Survey was supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Findings were based on a telephone survey of 2,503 California adult residents interviewed Oct. 10-23. The sampling error for the total sample was plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a larger sampling error for subgroups.