A college degree is something that most Americans have been told is the key to a higher-quality, affluent life, but according to a new study by Pew Research Center, many Americans have mixed feelings about this. Only 1 in 4 Americans said that it was "extremely important" to have a four-year college degree if you want a well-paying job. Forty percent of the people surveyed said it wasn't "too important" or not "important at all." Roughly half of the respondents say it's less important to have a four-year college degree today in order to get a well-paying job than it was 20 years ago. Only 22 percent say the cost of getting a four-year college degree today is worth it even if someone has to take out loans, while 47 percent say the cost is only worth it if someone doesn't have to take out loans.

The financial arguments in favor of going to college remain strong, but with as the cost of college continues to rise, millions of Americans still struggle to pay back their loans long after they have graduated. The Pew Research Center dove into the idea that although the benefits of getting a college degree aren't diminishing, the reasons to skip higher education may be growing.

Although we have seen in recent years that people who do not have college degrees are able to make enough money to live comfortably, only 22 percent say the cost of getting a four-year college degree today is worth it even if someone has to take out loans. According to Pew, households headed by a college graduate ages 25 to 34 had a median net worth of $120,200 in 2022, compared with $30,700 among high school graduates and $52,900 for those with some college. ″[College graduates] are more likely to be homeowners, so they probably have more home equity,” Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew who co-authored the survey, tells CNBC Make It. “Their employers are more likely to offer defined contribution retirement plans and the college-educated are more likely to participate in those retirement plans.”

College-degree holders have out-earned people who do not hold degrees, but in the last 10 years, the situation has started to improve. Fry mentioned that young men are an example of the growth of those without degrees who have experienced a rise in their wages over the last decade. The inflation-adjusted median annual earnings among young men who work full-time and only have high school diplomas was $45,000 in 2023, up from $39,300 in 2014, according to Pew’s analysis of Current Population Survey data. “Their inflation-adjusted earnings are at least finally starting to grow,” Fry says. “That’s noteworthy because with the exception of the late 1990s, once you adjust for inflation, their earnings have been pretty steadily falling.”

While the earnings of those who are college graduates has grow, the improvement for those who do not have college degrees is good news for people who may not be able to afford college. ″[Those without degrees] haven’t really narrowed the gaps, but this still is somewhat of an exceptional period because they have really gained from the tight labor markets where employers have had trouble finding less skilled workers,” Fry says. “The less-educated young workers really benefited from the tight labor markets of the last 10 years.”