Mike Rowe claims a PR problem is unfolding for four-year institutions as graduates’ degrees "no longer resonate with pride."
During an appearance on "The Bottom Line," Wednesday, Mike Rowe, CEO of Mike Rowe Works Foundation, claimed that the "bottom is falling out of the perception market for a four-year degree."
"Back in the mid-60s, higher-ed needed a PR campaign, a good one, and it got one. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of every other form of education. And then we wound up with a skills gap and no shop class and so forth and so on," Rowe said.
"I think something really extraordinary happened during the lockdowns," Rowe told "Bottom Line" co-hosts Sean Duffy and Dagen McDowell.
"Everybody’s getting a trophy" and an A, despite attending the country’s most prestigious universities, Rowe explained.
"If I'm an employer hiring a Harvard grad, I honestly have no idea who I'm hiring. It could be a disciplined, hardworking, smart, industrious, self-starter. Or it could be the son of the son of a legacy who coasted through the whole thing," he stressed.
In 2023, Gallup released a poll finding that just 17% of Americans say they have "a great deal" of confidence in their universities, with 19% saying they had "quite a lot." Meanwhile, 40% said they only had "some" confidence, and 22% said they had "very little."
Rowe expressed that he doesn’t know what to "conclude" from the drastic change in higher-ed and that a PR problem is "unfolding for the credential that we know as a four-year degree."
On Tuesday, Donald Trump saw a massive victory against opponent Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary. Non-college-educated voters were among the supporters that helped propel the former president to victory.
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"Ten years ago, if you said, 'hey, I've got the support of the college-educated behind me,' I think the average person would immediately go, ‘okay, so the smart people are with you' -- but something's happened," Rowe said.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what it means to say, 'hey, I've got the support of the college-educated,' because I can't find any evidence to indicate that that means you have the support of wise, prudent, thoughtful people," he added.
Rowe argues that "education is too important to root against it," however, he’s afraid that higher-ed may "have to go splat" before it goes back to being great.
Graduates are taking their "shameful" degrees "off their wall," Rowe says.
"The worm is turning, guys," he stressed.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report
