New polling from Lumina Foundation and Gallup shows the majority of Americans doubt that four-year colleges deliver affordable education, even as parents remain strongly committed to immediate post–high school enrollment. Only 12% of surveyed adults described four-year colleges as providing an affordable education, compared with 54% who rated community colleges highly. The results arrive as budget and policy debates tighten the fiscal room colleges depend on to manage tuition and aid. The polling found that institutions are the most-cited party responsible for affordability (76%), with state and federal governments following closely (73% and 67%), while operating margins at many institutions remain thin. Federal policy pressures are also rising: House appropriators advanced a bill to raise the maximum Pell Grant by $50 to $7,445 and add $16 billion to address a projected program budget shortfall. For campus leaders, the combination of constrained margins and shifting public expectations raises the stakes for affordability strategies and financial-aid packaging.