Daily headlines – not to mention new policies from Washington, DC and some statehouses – remind us that public confidence in higher education has declined in recent years. How can colleges and universities reverse this trend by better utilizing survey research to reshape institutional messaging and guide institutional priorities? See the results of a new survey of Americans’ views on higher education as we explore what public opinion research can tell us about how to tell our institutions’ story better as well as how we can have a better story to tell.