… Solid majorities of Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and, to a slightly lesser extent, African-Americans all agreed that “young people today need a four-year college degree in order to be successful.” Slightly fewer than half of whites endorsed that sentiment. …
On several key questions, the poll found a majority supporting public action to improve the availability and affordability of higher education, but a consistent racial divide ran through the data. Minorities were much more likely than whites, for instance, to believe that increasing spending on education would do more than cutting taxes to improve the economy in their community. And both whites and Asians were far more likely than Hispanics and African-Americans to argue that the best way to control mounting student-loan debt is for colleges to hold down costs, rather than for government to provide greater financial assistance. On each of these choices, older whites expressed more skepticism than younger ones about the value of additional public investment in education. CONT.
Ron Brownstein, National Journal