Poll: In a dramatic shift, Americans no longer see four-year college degrees as worth the cost

Americans have grown sour on one of the longtime key ingredients of the American dream.

Almost two-thirds of registered voters say that a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost, according to a new NBC News poll , a dramatic decline over the last decade.

Just 33% agree a four-year college degree is “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime,” while 63% agree more with the concept that it’s “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off.”

In 2017, U.S. adults surveyed were virtually split on the question — 49% said a degree was worth the cost and 47% said it wasn’t. When CNBC asked the same question in 2013 as part of its All American Econom