40% of Americans Wish They Had A Do Over On College

According to a poll of 2-thousand adults, both those who got a degree and those who haven’t would say yes to going back now - including 43% of college grads. While a quarter admit they weren’t really interested in attending college at the typical age, 34% think they’d like to do so now.

• But it’s not because they miss their college days, it’s all about exploring a different career path and making more money.
• Some major life events also inspire people to want to go back to school, including illness or loss of a loved one (41%), changing jobs or careers (37%), or moving (24%).
• Among those who’ve changed jobs or careers in the last five years, the average person has done so twice, even though 16% confess they didn’t feel prepared to.
• A third of working respondents say the current job market makes them want to redo their college experience totally differently.
• Almost two-thirds (63%) believe getting a “practical” degree, or one that gives them useful skills, would be helpful to them now, even if it’s not required for their work.
• Half of those who graduated from college originally got a practical degree, the most popular being education, business, communications or healthcare (10% each).
• While 68% of those who have a job and went to college think their degree is relevant to their work, 18% don’t.
• People think the most useful degrees for today’s job market would be artificial intelligence and machine learning (20%), healthcare (13%), cybersecurity (13%), accounting (13%) and business or economics (9%).
• If they went back to college today, respondents would want to check out a different career path (16%), to make more money (16%), learn something new (15%), and to savor the experience more (10%).