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WHAT'S THE BUZZ ON SSU's FRESHMEN CLASS?
SSU's freshmen classes are growing each year as the chiildren of Baby
Boomers begin to enter and progress through college. Having a larger percentage
of younger students on campus and in classes often means structuring courses
somewhat differently to accommodate their needs and interests. To understand
SSU freshmen students’ outlooks, interests, goals, and motivations,
a useful tool is to look at snapshots taken through the lens of the CIRP
Freshman Survey.
Overseen by Alexander Astin and his colleagues at the Higher Education
Research Institute (HERI) located at UCLA, the survey is administered
annually at hundreds of colleges and universities nation-wide. The Freshman
Survey queries students about their backgrounds and activities in which
they participated as seniors in high school. It also asks students about
their educational motivations and expectations, their opinions and personal
aspirations. At Sonoma, the survey has been conducted during the orientation
programs for incoming freshmen (Spring O, Summer O, and Summer Bridge)
for the past ten years. (Information about HERI’s research program
and the Freshman Survey can be found at http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/cirp.html.)
As a rule, 80% to 95% of SSU's incoming freshmen respond to the survey
every year. The most recent data currently available are from the 2001
Freshman Survey. Of the 1,031 students surveyed, 686 were women (66.5%)
and 345 were men (33.5%). The responses of men and women are in some ways
quite similar and in others distinctly different. For example, when asked
to indicate which personal goals they consider essential or very important,
the following objectives ranked as the top three from the 2001 survey:
Women
1. Raising a family, 70%
2. Being very well off financially, 69%
3. Helping others who are in difficulty, 64%
Men
1. Being very well off financially, 73%
2. Raising a family, 69%
3. Becoming an authority in my field, 53%
Given the longitudinal data available, it is clear that first-time freshmen attending Sonoma have changed in many ways over a relatively short span of time.
-- In 1993, 62% of incoming freshmen indicated that the size of the campus
was an important factor in their choosing to attend SSU; by 2001 that
percentage had fallen to 47%. Conversely, Sonoma’s good academic
reputation was cited as an important motivating factor by 30% in 1993,
increasing to 43% in 2001.
-- The academic effort and engagement of entering freshmen is decreasing.
In 1995, 42% of the survey respondents reported that they studied for
six hours or more every week as seniors in high school; by 2001 only 36%
reported the same study habits.
-- The percentage of students describing their political orientation as
far left or liberal was 45% in 1993, fell to 36% in 1995, and has risen
again to 46% in 2001. Nearly half of the incoming freshmen (49%) described
themselves as middle-of-the-road in 1999, but in the span of two years
that proportion has fallen to 41%.
-- Students’ political interest and engagement has steadily decreased
over time. Keeping up to date with political affairs was rated highly
by 48% of the respondents in 1993; by 2001 only 29% of the students concurred.
Similarly, influencing the political structure fell from a high of 31%
in 1993 to 16% in 2001.
-- There has also been a dramatic decline in our freshmen’s interest
in social activism. This shift is reflected in the changes seen on four
items from the Freshman Survey, as the proportions of students giving
high ratings to these life goals or objectives have fallen significantly
between 1993 and 2001:
1. helping to promote racial understanding (56%/30%)
2. influencing social values (52%/34%)
3. participating in a community action program (38%/22%)
4. becoming involved in programs to clean up the environment (36%/16%).
-- A growing number of entering freshmen live in on-campus housing. In
1993, approximately 360 of the freshmen surveyed (76%) planned to live
in the residence halls during their first college year. By 2001 that number
had grown to approximately 840, or 81% of the incoming freshmen class.
Many detailed reports about our incoming freshmen and students’ experiences
in Freshman Seminar have been published by the Office of Analytical Studies
and Planning. For more information, contact Leslie Deming at 664-2559
or Dr. L. Rose Bruce at 664-2790.
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