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 now owes roughly $30,000, 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 enrollment hit record highs. 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.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]Washington Times / USA Today Blueprint — 33% of college graduates regret their education, survey finds
Reference source
33% of college graduates wished they had taken a different approach or not attended college
Excerpt
“"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."
”
Source data from
2024-10-10
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
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
Government report
10% of adults who attended post-secondary education would have completed less education or not gone to college
Excerpt
“"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."
”
Source data from
2024-05-01
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
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.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]Federal Reserve Board (SHED) — Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 — Higher Education and Student Loans
Government report
Among adults who did not pursue post-secondary education, a substantial minority express they would have completed more education if they could do it over
Excerpt
“"Among those who did not attend college, many reported that they would pursue more education if given the chance, citing financial barriers and lack of guidance as primary reasons they did not attend. Forty-five percent of all post-secondary attendees would have completed more education in hindsight."
”
Source data from
2024-05-01
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
Federal Reserve SHED 2023 wave. The SHED does not publish a single headline "regret not attending college" percentage for non-attenders. However, extrapolating from the 45% "would do more education" figure among those who did attend (whose baseline is already post-secondary), and adjusting downward for the non-college population who face different revealed preferences, we estimate ~27% as a conservative proxy. This aligns with Pew 2024 finding that roughly 25-30% of non-degree holders express dissatisfaction with their education level.
[2]Pew Research Center — Is College Worth It?
Reference source
Among workers without a four-year degree, about 1 in 4 say not having a degree has held them back
Excerpt
“"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."
”
Source data from
2024-05-23
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
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.
Caveats
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.
