The British Social Attitudes survey (BSA) has been conducted by the National Centre for Social Research since 1983. Methodologically it relies on in-depth interviews rather than online surveys – its rigour and the length of its time series (and repetition of questions) means that it is one of our very best ways to track changes in public opinion and attitudes over time.
Each time the survey is published, the team responsible highlights particular issues via supporting analyses. This time – alongside a new release of 2024 data (from BSA 43) the emphases were on Reform supporters (which is why you are reading about John Curtice’s suggestion that they have “ideologically distinct views” rather than simply being a protest vote elsewhere in the press) and on attitudes to higher education.
In 1983, only around six per cent of school leavers went on to university – in 2025 the proportion is 36 per cent. Students paid no fees in the early 80s, and benefitted from historically generous grants – a far cry from the high fees and student debt that characterise our mass participation system today. And the direct financial benefits of university study – particularly in terms of access to well-paid careers – are less clear for today’s larger cohorts.
Higher education – and indeed society – has changed dramatically since the start of the BSA. So it is fair to suggest that society’s opinion of higher education has changed substantially over the last 43 years. And in some important respects, you would be wrong.
Should there be more opportunities for higher education?
In England in 1983 just 5 per cent of those surveyed felt that opportunities for young people to go on to higher education should be reduced. By 2025 this number had risen to a historically high level of 18 per cent, while the number who felt that opportunities should be increased fell from 44 per cent to 37 per cent.
That change is not, in itself, startling to anyone who has read a newspaper in the intervening years. What did pull me up was the size of the shift – the majority of people have felt (and still feel) that opportunities to attend university are at the right level or should be increased every time the question was asked over 43 years. More people currently feel that there should be more opportunities to go on to higher education than did so in 2004 (the year £3,000 fees were introduced in England).
So it is not clear that, despite many arguments to the contrary, that public opinion has turned decisively against higher education. There has been a small movement – and the sector should be and is working to ensure that this trend does not continue.
Are there too many graduates?
Since 2014, the BSA has included a question about how many recent graduates the job market needs. On the face of it, that feels like a reframing of the question above, but the results are very different. In 2014, 43 per cent of respondents felt there were too many graduates, with 38 per cent feeling the number was about right, and 13 per cent felt there were not enough graduates. For 2025 the comparators are 42 per cent for “too many”, 39 per cent for “enough”, and 10 per cent for “not enough”. Virtually unchanged.
What might be going on becomes more visible when we learn that more (49 per cent) of the graduates in that proportion felt there were too many recent graduates than (40 per cent) of those with no degree. NatCen suggests that this difference may reflect a direct experience of the graduate job market, but thinking of the two findings together makes me feel like this is actually an anxiety response. I suspect that people are nervous about competition for well paid roles, and this may be more acute among older graduates – but to be clear that is just a hypothesis.
There’s also a split by political party support on offer – we learn that a third of Conservative voters currently feel that opportunities for young people in Britain to go on to higher education should be reduced “a lot” or “a little” – up from 17 per cent in 2017 and the hughes proportion among all parties. To be clear, the 2025 figures are based on very small numbers so should be taken under advisement.
We also learn that some two-thirds of respondents in England agree that the government should set limits on the number of students universities can recruit from abroad. This goes substantially further than any current manifesto, and is particularly popular among those voting for right-of-centre parties (85 per cent of Reform voters, 74 per cent of Conservative Party voters).
Is university worth it?
Since 2005, BSA participants have their opinions on three statements about the value of university education:
- In the long run, people who go to university end up being a lot better off financially than those who don’t
- The cost of going to university leaves many students with debts they can’t afford to repay.
- A university education just isn’t worth the time and money it usually takes.
These figures make for less easy reading for those involved in the higher education system. There has been a decline in the belief that university leads to a lifetime financial benefit, and a sharp rise (since 2018) in the proportion who believe university just isn’t worth the time or money. Rather more surprisingly, the proportion that believes that university leaves students with debts they can’t afford to repay has fallen – despite what we know about growing graduate debt.
As NatCen suggests:
It may be that when people are conceptualising whether university is ‘worth the time and money’ or if it makes people a ‘lot better off financially’, they are thinking less about the size of student debt and whether it is repayable – and more about other relevant factors, such as whether graduates can find professional roles in the job market and at what salary.
Those who believe that university isn’t worth the time and money are more likely to believe that there are too many graduates, and more likely to be against the expansion of higher education opportunities. Graduates are more likely than non-graduates to believe that university leaves them better off financially – suggesting that much of this scepticism is not linked to direct experience.
Except where it is.
Views of graduates
To be clear, these are very small sample sizes. But it does appear that graduates that assess their financial situation as “comfortable” are much more likely to feel university was worth the time and money than those who are unsure or “struggling”. There’s no controlling for age here – more recent graduates who are still repaying fee and maintenance loans would arguably feel differently to those who graduated debt free.
We are also presented with evidence from even smaller sample sizes that older people who would not have paid fees are less likely to feel university wasn’t worth it (to be clear, we can’t be sure whether this is an age effect – older respondents are likely more comfortable financially, or a cohort effect).
Who should pay?
Questions around the value of higher education are inextricably linked to questions of cost. The case for free higher education has never been more popular – 27 per cent of respondents felt that no students or families should pay tuition fees, compared with 22 per cent in 2004 and 19 per cent in 2012. That is not to say that NUS abandoning the free tuition battle in 2008 was a historically short-sighted move, as the view among the general public (according to BSA) has always been that some students or families should pay (66 per cent in 2004, 68 per cent in 2012, 54 per cent in 2025).
The classic argument that those who benefit most from higher education should pay most is as popular among graduates as it is with the wider public. Politically, only the Green Party is currently making the case for free education in Engalnd– and even among its supporters 49 per cent agree that some should pay compared to 45 per cent who feel no-one should pay. There’s not a clear left-right division on the topic either.
There’s also an interesting effect linked to experience of the fee regime. Among those who turned 18 during the period without tuition fees, 74 per cent believe all or some students or families should pay – this compares with 59 per cent of the cohort who turned 18 between 2004 and 2012, and 69 per cent who turned 18 since 2012. And the pattern is starker among graduates (again, this could also be linked to age): 84 per cent of those who did not pay fees are OK with younger graduates doing so, compared to 59 per cent who did pay fees.
Just five per cent of respondents felt that the fee cap should be set above the then current £9,535 – 22 per cent felt there should be no upper limit, 32 per cent felt fees should be lower than currently, while 28 per cent did not want to see fees at all. This suggests that, while the decision to slowly raise fees with inflation is good news for the sector, it is unpopular with the public.
There is likewise substantial (40 per cent) support for a repayment threshold above £27,295, while 33 per cent of the public feel graduates should start repayments as soon as they are earning.
What can we learn from these findings?
The British Social Attitudes survey is just a survey – but it is an influential and rigorous one that is likely to attract significant political and press interest.
It is hard not to link the value and attractiveness of study with the questions about fees and funding – a higher sticker price is likely to mean a higher bar for satisfaction, especially among those who experience societal rather than personal benefits from higher education. But despite this, it is comforting to note that while support for cutting student numbers is growing, it remains the overwhelming preference of the public that the same number or more young people get the chance to study at a higher education level.
There is work to be done in a high fees and high debt era to make a solid case for the value and utility of higher education – and while this is starting to happen the evidence here suggests that there is much more to do. But the extent to which universities themselves have the ability to move the dial on the current or future state of the graduate job market is uncertain.
