College Choices & Political Engagement: Trends From 2008 Freshman Survey

1. Political Engagement, College Choice & Skills for a Diverse Workplace:Results from the 2008 CIRP Freshman Survey Association of American Colleges & Universities Annual Meeting Seattle, WA January 22, 2008 John H. Pryor Director, Cooperative Institutional Research Program Sylvia Hurtado Director, Higher Education Research Institute

2. CIRP Freshman Survey Project of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA Comprehensive survey of incoming first-time full-time college students 43rd year Over 13 million students Beginning of longitudinal research program for colleges that continues with the YFCY and CSS

3. 2008 • Administered at • 522 colleges and universities • 328,182 students • “Norms” (high response rates) • 340 colleges and universities • 240,580 students

4. 2008 Significant Findings • College Choice and Financial Issues • Political Engagement • Skills for a Diverse Workplace • College Readiness • Interest in Engineering • Learning Disabilities • “Green” Initiatives • Internet Use • Drinking Behavior • A Meaningful Philosophy of Life

5. College Choice and Financial Issues

6. College Choice

7. College Choice Gap: 16.5 Gap: 17.1

8. Financial Influences in College Choice

9. Multiple Sources Used to Finance College

10. More students than ever plan to get a job to help pay expenses

11. Major Concerns About Financing College

12. Politics

13. More Students Discussing Politics

14. More Students Discussing Politics:Election Years

15. Comparing Boom Generations

16. Increased Support for Liberal Causes

17. Increase in Liberal Students

18. Skills for a Diverse Workplace

19. Skills for a Diverse Workplace • Employers of college graduates need workplace competencies associated with a diverse world • New item on CIRP surveys: • Pluralistic Orientation

20. Pluralistic Orientation

21. Pluralistic Orientation

22. College Readiness

23. College Readiness • National Commission on Excellence • 4 yr English • 3 yr Math • 2 yr Foreign Language • 2 yr Physical Science • 2 yr Biological Science • 1 yr History/American Government • 1 yr Art/Music • ½ yr Computer Science

24. College Readiness • 98.9% History/American Government • 98.5% Math • 97.9% English • 92.9% Foreign Language • 82.3% Art/Music • 61.8% Physical Sciences • 60.8% Computer Science • 49.5% Biological Sciences

25. College Readiness • Although still low, biological sciences at a high, up 2.7 percentage points from 2006 • Physical sciences also at a high • Racial disparities persist, as it is more likely that White and Asian American students will meet the requirements for college than other students

26. Further Findings

27. Interest in Engineering

28. Increase in Self-Reported Learning Disabilities

29. Learning Disabled Student’s Anticipation of Needs/Services

30. Support for “Green” Initiatives

31. Greater “Green” Initiative Support Among More Liberal Students

32. Internet Use • 98.8% for Research or Homework • 86.5% Read news sites • 18.9% College website was important factor in determining where to attend

33. Internet Use • 57.1% Read blogs • 34.5% Have a blog • Female students were more likely to both read blogs and have blogs of their own • Male students slightly more likely to read news sites

34. Drinking Behaviors

35. Meaningful Philosophy of Life

36. Conclusions • Many record highs and lows this year • Financial concerns are manifested in college choice • Political involvement at a high • Beginning to monitor skills for a diverse and interconnected world • Moving towards eliminating disparities in college readiness • Progress in science initiatives

37. www.heri.ucla.edu www.cirpsurveys.org heri@ucla.edu 310.825.1925