The PR Trap: What Presidents Say They’re Doing

Just 2 percent of college presidents believe the sector has been highly effective at rebuilding public trust—and only 16 percent think it has been at least moderately effective. Those stark numbers come from Inside Higher Ed’s 2026 Survey of College and University Presidents, conducted with Hanover Research. The survey, which polled 430 leaders from public and private nonprofit two- and four-year institutions, also reveals a gap between the scale of the problem and the tools being deployed to fix it.

More than half of presidents (51 percent) say their institution has launched at least one initiative to boost trust in the past year. Public institutions are slightly more active (56 percent) than private nonprofits (45 percent). But when asked in a write-in question exactly what those initiatives look like, over half of the 189 presidents who described their efforts pointed to stand-alone public relations and marketing: pumping out stories about regional economic impact, student return on investment and research successes. One president wrote of “proactively getting good news stories out”; another cited “high profile PR on the value of a 4-year degree.”

Experts warn that this approach may be misreading the audience. Research shows the top drivers of public doubt are perceived political agendas, teaching the wrong things and cost—not a lack of glossy brochures. Meanwhile, the strongest trust-building factors are perceptions of value, strong training and educational quality. Yet fewer than one in 10 presidents mentioned affordability in their written answers, and only about one in five described workforce-aligned program changes or deeper employer partnerships.

The picture suggests a disconnect: many leaders understand that trust is crumbling, but their go-to response is often a communications campaign rather than the structural moves that families and employers say matter most. A handful of institutions, such as Dartmouth and the University of Michigan, are bucking the trend with explicit affordability pledges, guaranteed internships and career-first academic models. The survey results, combined with follow-up expert commentary, offer a roadmap for those ready to move from storytelling to substance.

Beyond the Brochure: What Experts Say Actually Moves Trust

Why Messaging Alone Widens the Gap

Multiple experts interviewed after the survey stressed that public skepticism is not a communications problem but a performance and value problem. As one put it, “When institutions project strength and success without putting any skin in the game, they’re asking the public to trust them. People can feel that one-sidedness, and it breeds skepticism.” The daylight between polished institutional narratives and students’ real-world experiences—rising debt, uncertain job outcomes, perceived ideological narrowness—can actively deepen mistrust. In short, the more a college trumpets its impact while families feel the opposite, the more trust erodes.

The Public’s Real Scorecard: Cost, Careers and Candor

The survey data and expert interviews converge on two trust levers that PR can’t pull. First, transparency on outcomes: publishing program-level data on completion, time to degree, job placement and earnings—even when the numbers are weak—and being willing to redesign or sunset programs that don’t deliver. Second, substantive affordability: not just scholarships for a few but structural tuition reductions, loan-free packages and explicit guarantees that a degree comes with manageable debt. Dartmouth’s move to free tuition for families earning under $175,000 and a decade of growing its financial aid budget by over 100 percent are held up as what “concrete accountability” looks like.

Community Colleges as a Trust Bright Spot

The survey and external data also highlight that two-year colleges are faring better. One community college president wrote, “As a two-year college, I do not feel we have lost trust. We align our programs with regional industry needs.” Gallup polling backs that up: in 2025, 56 percent of Americans expressed high confidence in two-year colleges, versus 44 percent for four-year institutions. The institutional lesson is that tight alignment with local workforce demand—not generic messaging—appears to inoculate against the broader trust deficit. Presidents of four-year schools who build similarly deep employer relationships may be able to replicate that effect.

The Ideological Dimension

Experts also flagged the perception that campuses have become ideologically narrow. When universities rush to take institutional positions on every national controversy, they signal that skeptics are unwelcome. The antidote, according to the analysis, is institutional restraint, protecting free inquiry, and genuinely teaching students how to think rather than what to think. That shift is harder than a press release but, the argument goes, addresses a root cause of distrust that no marketing campaign can fix.

A Concrete To-Do List for Leaders Serious About Trust

Based on the survey findings and expert guidance, here are the concrete steps that emerged for institutions serious about rebuilding public trust:

  • Publish program-level outcomes data across the board, not just for star programs. The survey’s experts explicitly called for transparency on completion rates, time to degree, job placement and earnings, and for making tough decisions to redesign or sunset programs that don’t produce adequate returns.
  • Embed career outcomes into the academic model, not as a parallel initiative. This means aligning curriculum with real-time labor market demand, tying program expansion to documented employer demand, and guaranteeing work-based learning. The University of Michigan’s Go Blue Guarantee and Dartmouth’s guaranteed internships are cited as examples.
  • Address affordability through structural price moves, not just messaging about value. Fewer than 10% of presidents mentioned affordability in their trust-building descriptions. The data suggests that tuition reductions, debt-free graduation packages and credit for prior learning can shift public perception by directly lowering the cost barrier.
  • Stop taking institutional positions on every national controversy; recenter on free inquiry. Experts urged presidents to avoid feeding the perception of ideological narrowness by exercising restraint and focusing on teaching students how to think critically rather than aligning the institution with a political side.
  • Invest in ongoing relationships with local schools, employers and elected officials, not just one-way PR broadcasts. Presidents who described deeper ties with communities and school districts—not just press releases—were on the right track. Trust “comes back through consistently appearing in spaces where people have a real voice.”