Fun Stats from The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac issue for 2005-6
“Attitudes and characteristics of freshman”
More than half of incoming freshman have estimated parental income between $50, 000 and $150,000
65.5% have concerns about financing college
The average college cost for 1 year, out of state: $21, 931
About 25% have applied to more than 4 schools, while about 70% attend their first choice
Political views:
- Far Left: 3.4%
- Liberal: 26.1%
- Middle of the Road: 46.4%
- Conservative: 2.2%
- Far Right: 21.9%
63.1% feel that they will have a very good chance to “socialize with someone of another racial or ethnic group,” but 76.5% of them are white.
In the past year, about 80% of freshmen have attended a religious service, about half have tried drinking, and 67.8% have “socialized with someone of another racial or ethnic group.”
78.7% feel that more should be done by the federal government to control the sale of handguns.
Just 51.3% feel that there is a very good chance that they will be satisfied with college
Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
