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Undergraduate students value personal growth and career outcomes, survey finds
May 14, 2026
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More than a third of undergraduate students cited career outcomes as their primary reasons for attending college, while 38% said they valued intellectual and personal growth, identity formation and giving back to their community, according to a new survey conducted by the LearningWell Coalition, a national network of colleges and universities.
Lower-income and first-generation students (32%) were less likely to prioritize career motivations for going to college compared to their higher-income peers (48%) in the survey titled “What Students Value in College.”
“At a time when the value of higher education is often viewed solely through the lens of economic metrics, such as first year earnings or R.O.I., it is interesting to see that students themselves are looking for more enduring benefits, such as a sense of purpose, identity, and other elements of personal growth,” said Keith Buffinton, the executive director of the LearningWell Coalition, a nonprofit organization that conducted the survey in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities and Morning Consult.
Seventy-eight percent of students also said they valued internships as “very” or “extremely” valuable, and students who had participated in internships reported significantly higher well-being than those who had not.
The survey, conducted in January, polled 872 undergraduate students age 18 to 34 enrolled in two- or four-year degree programs.
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Thursday, May 14, 2026 — 10:21 am
More than a third of undergraduate students cited career outcomes as their primary reasons for attending college, while 38% said they valued intellectual and personal growth, identity formation and giving back to their community, according to a new survey conducted by the LearningWell Coalition, a national network of colleges and universities.
Lower-income and first-generation students (32%) were less likely to prioritize career motivations for going to college compared to their higher-income peers (48%) in the survey titled “What Students Value in College.”
“At a time when the value of higher education is often viewed solely through the lens of economic metrics, such as first year earnings or R.O.I., it is interesting to see that students themselves are looking for more enduring benefits, such as a sense of purpose, identity, and other elements of personal growth,” said Keith Buffinton, the executive director of the LearningWell Coalition, a nonprofit organization that conducted the survey in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities and Morning Consult.
Seventy-eight percent of students also said they valued internships as “very” or “extremely” valuable, and students who had participated in internships reported significantly higher well-being than those who had not.
The survey, conducted in January, polled 872 undergraduate students age 18 to 34 enrolled in two- or four-year degree programs.
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