See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAVID CHURCHILL Published: 00:01 BST, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 00:32 BST, 2 June 2026
A third of the public think going to university is not worth the time and cost - more than double compared to two decades ago.According to a major survey, the number of people in England saying university was no longer worth it hit a record high of 34 per cent last year.This was up from around one in six (15 per cent) in 2005. Reform UK voters were most likely to agree it wasn’t worth it (42 per cent), followed by Conservative (35 per cent) and Labour (34 per cent).Among graduate respondents, more than one in four (27 per cent) said it wasn’t worth the time or money, with this rising to 35 per cent for former students who paid the highest rate of £9,000 a year for their tuition fees.Meanwhile, the belief that graduates are better off in the long run among the public has collapsed from 50% in 2005 to 36% over the same period.Four in ten (42 per cent) also said there were too many graduates, according to the findings of the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey.Among respondents with degrees this rose to 49 per cent when asked about the numbers in relation to the overall size of the jobs market, with just 10% of the public saying there were not enough.
