A recent poll by the Lumina Foundation and Gallup found that over half of surveyed college students, 55%, believe their institutions’ leadership makes decisions in their best interests “all” or “most of the time.” However, students at top-ranked universities were less likely to say the same, with only 45% expressing trust in their leaders.
According to the poll, campus leaders aren’t the only ones influencing decisions. The majority of students, 58%, said their campus policies have been influenced “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” by state or federal lawmakers.
Policies and proposals from campus leaders enjoy higher approval ratings from students than those from state and federal lawmakers, the poll found. Seventy-nine percent of surveyed students said they approve of the policies and proposals from their college leadership.
This is compared to 56% who say the same about policies from state lawmakers and only 45% who approve of policies from federal government leaders. The poll also found political divides in approval ratings, with Republican students tending to have more favorable views of policies from their campus, state, and federal leaders than Democratic or independent students.
The divide was especially stark for policies from federal lawmakers. Seven in 10 Republican students said they approve of federal legislation or proposals, compared with only 36% of Democratic students and 38% of independent students.
The results come as the Trump administration has pressured several high-profile colleges to make numerous policy changes, such as tightening protest rules and nixing diversity statements in hiring, to restore their access to federal research funding or end government investigations. President Donald Trump also signed sweeping tax and spending legislation in July 2025, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that tightened federal student lending.
Other recent Gallup polling shows college graduates tend to have positive views of their education. Three-quarters of currently enrolled students and 71% of college graduates say their degrees were worth the cost, according to Gallup polling released in February.
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Despite this, the poll released Thursday shows that 45% of students overall have doubts that their institution is mostly acting in their best interests. This disconnect between the value students place in their degree and the trust they have in their institution’s administration may be contributing to negative perceptions of college among their friends, family members, and peers.
Thursday’s poll results come against the backdrop of low levels of confidence in higher education among the overall public. Only 38% of surveyed adults said they have high confidence in the sector, according to survey results released last month. That’s down from 57% in 2015.
Restoring that lost confidence will almost certainly require an increase in trust among those who know higher education best: its students. They based their analysis on 3,801 responses to the annual study on higher education, polling for which was conducted in October.
It is likely that students’ perceptions of their institution’s leadership will play a significant role in shaping their overall college experience. The fact that students at top-ranked universities tend to have lower trust in their leaders suggests that there may be opportunities for these institutions to improve their relationships with students.
In the higher education sector, building trust between students and institution leaders is essential for creating a positive and supportive learning environment. By understanding the factors that influence students’ perceptions of their institution’s leadership, colleges and universities can take steps to address these concerns and promote a more collaborative and student-centered approach to decision-making.
They can achieve this by understanding what influences students’ perceptions of their institution’s leadership.
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