It would be interesting to know the precise set of factors associated with this fairly dismal report, summarized in the bar chart below.

Certainly the high costs, especially those associated with student debt, play an important role.

Another contributor, to be sure, is the belief among the right wing that our colleges and universities are essentially manufacturing facilities that crank out liberals.   I.e., only those with progressive views do well in course like political science, history, and the rest of the humanities, because of the bias of the institution and its professors.

A competing view is that conservatives suffer from thought processes that tend to be narrow, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and often deeply religious / anti-science, and that universities have no responsibility to present what could be call a “Fox News interpretation” of the world around us.  Perhaps it’s actually a good thing that our young people are encouraged to develop belief systems that feature compassion, inclusion, and sustainability.

Americans’ Eroding Respect for Higher Education