Only 17% of private-university graduates say their degree was not worth the financial investment, compared with 14% of public-university graduates, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey of 2,002 US adults. The difference is three percentage points — within the margin of error — making this one of the clearest “balanced” findings in the regret literature. Both groups overwhelmingly report that college paid off, and neither camp shows the sustained, growing regret that Gilovich and Medvec associate with the inaction side of most long-term dilemmas.
The most consequential finding comes from the Strada-Gallup Education Consumer Pulse survey of approximately 90,000 US adults, which found that the strongest predictor of education satisfaction is the selectivity of the institution attended, not whether it is public or private. A graduate of a highly selective state flagship reports similar satisfaction to a graduate of a similarly ranked private college; a graduate of a less selective private school reports similar regret to a comparable public institution. The Pew 3-point gap almost certainly reflects this selectivity confound rather than anything intrinsic to the public/private distinction.
Three limitations shape how this entry should be read. First, the primary data are from 2013, before the steepest phase of private-tuition growth and the student-debt expansion of the late 2010s; contemporary graduates carrying larger private-school debt loads may show a larger asymmetry. Second, both figures measure satisfaction retrospectively from a population that successfully graduated; students who enrolled at private universities and did not complete their degree are absent and likely report higher regret. Third, this entry is specific to the United States, where a sharp public/private cost divide exists. In most of Europe, the financial and prestige gap between private and public higher education is structured differently, and these numbers do not transfer.