HERI’s Freshman Survey: Annual Report Reveals Attitudes Toward Cost of Education, Student Life
A college rating system proposed by the U.S. Department of Education could hurt many broad-access and minority-serving colleges and universities given that those institutions are enrolling more students who may ultimately graduate from a different college or university, data from a national student survey shows.
According to UCLA’s annual CIRP Freshman Survey, more than one-quarter of incoming freshmen at such colleges plan to transfer to another institution.
The survey of incoming students at four-year colleges and universities throughout the U.S. is part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program and is administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
Students enrolling at the least selective campuses are the most likely to intend to transfer: Among the least selective institutions, 30.3 percent of students at public and 29.9 percent at private colleges and universities report there is either “some” or a “very good” chance they will transfer to another institution. By contrast, just 11.8 percent of students at the most selective public institutions and 17 percent of students at the most selective private institutions express a strong intention to transfer.
In December, the Department of Education announced the framework for a system that would evaluate higher education institutions on criteria including accessibility and affordability, as well as “outcome measures” such as graduation rates, graduate school enrollment and earnings by graduates. Department officials have said the ratings are intended to help students’ families make more informed decisions about the colleges they’re considering, and the Obama administration intends for the system to guide federal allocations for student loans and grants.
“For many years the federal government has measured graduation rates at four-year schools based on first-time, full-time students who earn a degree from their first institution within six years of enrollment,” said Kevin Eagan, interim director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. “We know from our research that students who start college intending to transfer tend to follow through on those plans.
“So it is important that the Obama administration’s new framework does not unfairly evaluate institutions with broad-access missions, given that these campuses enroll a greater proportion of students with strong transfer intentions.”
Graduate degree aspirations on the rise
The ratings system might also track the number of students pursuing postbaccalaureate degrees; the UCLA study found that more students are arriving on campus with plans for graduate study. Whereas 40 years ago, 50.8 percent of incoming first-year students aspired to earn no more than a bachelor’s degree, only 23.4 percent in 2014 reported similar aspirations.
Meanwhile, between 1974 and 2014, the percentage of students entering college with plans to earn a master’s degree increased to 43.6 percent from 28.1 percent, while students indicating they would like to earn a doctorate or first professional degree increased to 32.9 percent from 21.1 percent. Student perceptions that the labor market is highly competitive may be driving more incoming students to aspire to graduate level studies, Eagan said.
Partying, use of alcohol and tobacco drop
The survey also found that fewer students spent time during the previous year at parties. Among respondents to the latest survey, 41.3 percent reported they did not attend parties at all, and 61.4 percent said they spent less than hour a week at parties. In 1987, just 24.3 percent said they spent less than an hour at parties.
Over the same timeframe, the percentage of students who spent six or more hours per week at parties dropped dramatically, to 8.6 percent from 34.5 percent.
Additionally, the survey found the lowest self-reported rates of alcohol and cigarette use among incoming freshmen in approximately 30 years. While 74.2 percent of students in 1981 indicated they frequently or occasionally drank beer, the figure was just 33.5 percent in 2014. The percentage of students who said they consumed wine or hard liquor during their senior year of high school dropped to 38.7 in 2014; in 1987 it was 67.8 percent.
The study also found a marked decline in cigarette smoking, reflecting social, health policy and legal trends of the past few decades, including many states’ changes to the minimum age for alcohol and tobacco consumption. In 2014, just
1.7 percent of students reported smoking cigarettes frequently; in 1981, 9.2 percent did.
Other findings
• Students’ self-rated emotional health dropped to 50.7 percent — the lowest level ever and 2.3 percentage points lower than the entering cohort of 2013.
• The proportion of students who “frequently” felt depressed increased to 9.5 percent, 3.4 percentage points higher than in 2009, when the smallest percentage of students in the survey’s history reported feeling frequently depressed.
• While a school’s “good academic reputation” remained the single most important factor to students in choosing their college (65.4 percent), the percentage of incoming students who reported that being admitted through an early decision program was “very important” was 15.7 percent in 2014. It was just 6.9 percent in 1999.
• Many students arrive at college anticipating that they will need extra time to complete their degree. At the least selective public colleges and universities, 42.4 percent of students think there is “some” or a “very good” chance they would need extra time, compared to 35.6 at moderately selective and 29.5 percent at the most selective public institutions.
• When asked about their tolerance of others with different beliefs and their ability to work cooperatively with diverse people, over 80 percent of respondents answered both questions by rating their skills as either “a major strength” or “somewhat strong.”
The study incorporated responses from 153,015 firsttime, full-time students beginning their studies at 227 four-year colleges and universities of varying levels of selectivity and type in the U.S. The data was statistically weighted to reflect the approximately 1.6 million first-time, full-time students entering 1,583 four-year colleges and universities across the country in 2014. Since 1966, the first year the survey was conducted, more than 15 million students at 1,900 colleges and universities have completed CIRP surveys. The CIRP Freshman Survey is the largest and longest-running survey of American college students, and the 2015 administration will mark its 50th year.
Media Contact: Kathy Wyer, 310-206-0513
wyer@gseis.ucla.edu
For press coverage on The Freshman Survey, visit these links:
HERI: College Freshmen Partied Less in High School Than Their Parents, Report Low Emotional Health
Featured on MyNews4.com, February 4, 2015
CIRP: College Freshmen Are Leaning Away From Religion
Featured in The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Survey finds college freshmen party less, worry about money more
Quoted by The Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2015
CIRP: More College Freshmen Report Having Felt Depressed
Featured in The New York Times, February 5, 2015
HERI: College Students Report More Stress, Less Time to Socialize
Featured in The Washington Post, February 5, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Students’ Fragile Mental Health
Quoted by Inside Higher Ed, February 5, 2015
HERI: Decrease in Students’ Socializing, Increase in Use of Social Media
Featured in Inside Higher Ed, February 5, 2015
CIRP: College Freshmen Seek Financial Security Amid Emotional Insecurity
Featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 5, 2015
HERI: Today’s College Freshmen More Depressed, Less Religious
Featured in Newsmax.com, February 5, 2015
CIRP: Emotional Well-Being of College Freshmen at All-Time Low Levels, Survey Shows
Featured in Education Week, February 5, 2015
HERI: College Freshmen Report Much Less Partying and Drinking in High School
Featured in The Washington Post, February 5, 2015
CIRP: More College Freshmen Say They’re Depressed, Report Says
Featured in Pelham Daily Voice, February 5, 2015
HERI: Survey Reveals That More Freshmen Experience Alcohol for First Time in College
Featured in Business Insider, February 5, 2015
HERI: College Freshmen Party Less, Plan for Advanced Degrees
Featured in LancasterOnline.com, February 5, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Kids Today More Stressed Out, Partying Less Than Their Parents Did
Interviewed by CBS Evening News, January 5, 2015
UCLA: Students Spend More Time on Academics, Less on Friends
Featured in MSNBC.com, February 5, 2015
UCLA: Partying Down, Ambition Up for College Freshmen
Featured on KCRW.com, January 5, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Incoming College Students Deal With More Stress, Less Socializing Than Parents
Quoted by KTHR.com, February 6, 2015
Kevin Eagan: College Freshmen More Depressed and Alone Than Ever
Quoted by The Huffington Post, February 5, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Freshmen Drink and Socialize Less, Worry More
Quoted by Al Jazeera American, February 6, 2015
Kevin Eagan: More Freshmen Choose Studying Over Drinking
Quoted by NeonTommy.com, February 5, 2015
Reuters.com, February 5, 2015
HERI: Today’s College Freshmen, Explained in Four Charts
Featured in Vox.com, February 5, 2015
HERI: Mental Health of College Freshmen Hits New Low
Featured on CBSNews.com, February 6, 2015
UCLA: Emotional Well-being of College Freshmen at All-Time Low
Featured on NBCNews.com, February 6, 2015
HERI: Freshmen Lonelier, Less Experience with Real Time Socializing
Featured in Bloomberg.com, February 6, 2015
CIRP: College Kids More Depressed
Op-Ed in The New York Times, February 6, 2015
UCLA: Today’s Freshmen More Depressed and Overwhelmed
Featured on CBSLocal.com, February 6, 2015
CBSNews.com, February 6, 2015
NBCNews.com, February 6, 2015
Bloomberg.com, February 6, 2015
The New York Times, February 6, 2015
U.S. News & World Report, February 6, 2015
Quoted by The Huffington Post, February 7, 2015
SmallBusinessTrends.com, February 9, 2015
Money.com, February 9, 2015
Examiner.com, February 10, 2015
The Washington Post, February 9, 2015
The Atlantic, February 10, 2015
National Deseret News, February 10, 2015
UCLA: Does the College Major Really Matter?
Featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 10, 2015
Kevin Eagan: College Students’ Transfer Plans Could Affect Obama Ratings
Quoted in U.S. News and World Report, February 12, 2015
Kevin Eagan: Freshman Survey Looks at Teens and Stress
Interviewed by WHYY Public Media, February 17, 2015