A 2024 USA Today Blueprint survey of 1,000 college graduates found that
33% regret their education decision — a figure that includes those
who wish they had chosen community college, apprenticeships, online
courses, or direct workforce entry. The Federal Reserve’s SHED survey
offers a stricter measure: only 10% of post-secondary attendees would
choose less education or no college at all if given a do-over. On the
inaction side, Pew Research found that roughly 25% of non-degree
workers say lacking a degree has held them back in their career, and
SHED data suggests about 27% of non-attenders would pursue more education
in hindsight. The gap between the two sides is narrower than headline
surveys suggest.
The structural explanation for elevated action-regret is straightforward:
college is expensive and slow, trades pay quickly and carry minimal debt.
The median student-loan borrower owes between $20,000 and $24,999, per
the Federal Reserve’s SHED survey, and the USA Today Blueprint survey
found that the most common regret among graduates was not choosing a
cheaper or faster alternative rather than wishing they had skipped
education entirely. NPR documented the shift toward vocational training
in 2024, labeling Gen Z the “toolbelt generation” as vocational-focused
community college enrollment rose 16% from 2022 to 2023. But the Federal
Reserve’s 10% figure cautions against overstating the trend: when asked
whether they would undo the college decision entirely, nine in ten would
still go.
The caveat is measurement heterogeneity. The 33% figure conflates people
who regret college entirely with those who merely wish they had chosen a
cheaper program — a meaningful distinction the headline obscures. The
SHED’s 10% pins the “full regret” rate far lower. On the inaction side,
Pew’s “held back” question captures career frustration that may or may
not translate to educational regret. Whether the action-dominates pattern
persists through a recession, when degree-holders tend to fare better on
unemployment metrics, is an open question. The directional finding
(college regret modestly exceeds trade-path regret in the current
economy) is supported by multiple authoritative sources; the magnitude is
era-dependent and narrower than less rigorous surveys imply.
Источники: действие
Реестр утверждений
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1/3 источников независимо дословно сверены с указанным источником
[1]Washington Times / USA Today Blueprint — 33% of college graduates regret their education, survey finds
Авторитетный справочник
33% of college graduates wished they had taken a different approach or not attended college
Выдержка
“"About a third (33%) of college graduates regret their education, wishing they had taken a different approach. That includes 17% who wished they had attended a two-year community college, 10% who regretted not entering the workforce right after high school, 8% who felt remorse about not taking cheaper online courses, and 8% who said they would have pursued an apprenticeship or fellowship."
”
Данные источника:
2024-10-10
Дата обращения
2026-04-26
Расчёт
USA Today Blueprint commissioned Talker Research to survey 1,000 college graduates and 1,000 nongraduates from June 13-18, 2024. Margin of error +/-2.2 pp at 95% confidence. We use the 33% composite figure for all graduates who would change their decision.
[2]Federal Reserve Board (SHED) — Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 — Higher Education and Student Loans
Проверено
Правительственный отчёт
10% of adults who attended post-secondary education would have completed less education or not gone to college
Выдержка
“"Just 10 percent of people who pursued education beyond high school said that they would have completed less education or not gone to college if they could make their education decisions again. Forty-five percent said they would complete more education."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-01
Дата обращения
2026-04-26
Проверка
Выдержка независимо повторно загружена и подтверждена слово в слово по указанному источнику в ходе нашей проверки достоверности.
Расчёт
Federal Reserve SHED survey of approximately 11,000 US adults (2023 wave, published May 2024). The 10% figure represents those who would attend less or not at all — a stricter measure than the USA Today Blueprint 33%, which includes those who merely wish they had chosen a different program type. The two figures bracket true college-regret: 10% (would undo the decision entirely) to 33% (would change some aspect). We use 33% as the headline because it captures all forms of educational path regret. The same report also finds that the median amount of education debt among borrowers in 2023 was between $20,000 and $24,999 -- the figure the body prose uses for the cost/speed contrast with trades; an earlier draft of this entry misstated this as "roughly $30,000."
[3]NPR — Many in Gen Z ditch colleges for trade schools. Meet the 'toolbelt generation'
Новостная статья
Enrollment in vocational-focused community colleges increased 16% from 2022 to 2023, per National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data
Выдержка
“"Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows the number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges increased 16% from 2022 to 2023."
”
Данные источника:
2024-04-22
Дата обращения
2026-07-03
Расчёт
NPR feature (April 22, 2024) profiling Gen Z tradespeople choosing vocational school over four-year college, citing National Student Clearinghouse Research Center enrollment data. Used in the body as context for the structural cost/speed contrast between college and trades, not as a source of either side's regret rate. The piece reports a 16% year-over-year enrollment increase, not a "record high" -- the body text is scoped to the reported figure.
Источники: бездействие
Реестр утверждений
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1/2 источников независимо дословно сверены с указанным источником
[1]Federal Reserve Board (SHED) — Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 — Higher Education and Student Loans
Проверено
Правительственный отчёт
45% of post-secondary attendees would complete more education in hindsight, including 61% of those with less than a bachelor's degree
Выдержка
“"Completing more education was the most common change individuals would have made regarding their education. Forty-five percent of adults who attended an educational program beyond high school and were not currently enrolled said that they would complete more education in hindsight. This includes 61 percent of those with less than a bachelor's degree."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-01
Дата обращения
2026-04-26
Проверка
Выдержка независимо повторно загружена и подтверждена слово в слово по указанному источнику в ходе нашей проверки достоверности.
Расчёт
Federal Reserve SHED 2023 wave. The SHED does not survey people who never attended college, so it publishes no direct "regret not attending college" percentage for non-attenders. Its nearest genuine proxy is that 45% of post-secondary attendees would complete MORE education in hindsight, rising to 61% among those with less than a bachelor's degree (i.e. people who stopped short of a full degree). Adjusting downward for the fully non-college population, who face different revealed preferences, we treat ~27% as a conservative proxy. This aligns with the Pew 2024 finding that about a quarter of non-degree workers say lacking a degree has held them back.
[2]Pew Research Center — Is College Worth It?
Авторитетный справочник
Among workers without a four-year degree, about 1 in 4 say not having a degree has held them back
Выдержка
“"Among workers ages 25 and older who do not have a four-year college degree, about a quarter say not having a degree has held them back in their career. However, 73% say they have not felt held back."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-23
Дата обращения
2026-04-26
Расчёт
Pew Research survey of 5,203 US adults, Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2023. The ~25% "held back" figure among non-degree workers is a proxy for career-path regret. This corroborates the SHED-derived estimate of ~27% inaction regret. It is not identical to "regret not going to college" — some may feel held back but still not regret their choice — but it captures the sentiment.
Оговорки
The action and inaction figures come from different survey instruments measuring related but non-identical constructs. The 33% action-regret rate (USA Today Blueprint) aggregates several types of dissatisfaction — wishing for community college, online courses, or apprenticeships — not exclusively "I wish I'd never studied at all." The Federal Reserve SHED pegs that stricter measure at just 10%. The inaction-side 27% is a proxy derived from SHED aspiration data and corroborated by Pew's 25% "held back" finding; no large-scale survey directly asks non-college adults "do you regret skipping college?" with a single yes/no question. The narrower gap (33% vs 27%, delta 0.06) compared to earlier estimates reflects the use of more authoritative sources. The action-dominates pattern is unusual in the Gilovich literature and may reflect a historically specific moment of high tuition, student-debt salience, and tight skilled-trades labor markets rather than a durable psychological regularity. Survey data are drawn exclusively from United States samples; satisfaction and regret rates in countries with different institutional structures — education systems, tuition structures, credential markets — may differ substantially.
