A new poll from Lumina Foundation and Gallup finds most adults believe four-year colleges are not affordable, while community colleges receive stronger ratings. The survey reports only 12% of adults say four-year colleges provide affordable education “good” or “excellent,” compared with 54% for community colleges. Despite affordability concerns, 74% of surveyed parents say they want their children to pursue postsecondary education directly after high school. Among parents, 38% picked a four-year college as the top choice, 19% chose a two-year institution, and 17% selected a job-training or certification program. The poll also suggests responsibility is widely attributed to colleges themselves and to state and federal governments, with 76% identifying individual colleges and 73% and 67% pointing to state and federal governments among top parties responsible. The data lands in a context of weakening margins across the sector, including a cited S&P Global Ratings finding that private colleges’ median operating margins were negative in fiscal 2025. At the federal level, House appropriators advanced a bill that would raise the Pell Grant by $50 to a maximum of $7,445 and provide $16 billion to address a budget shortfall.