In the Know
The Entering Class of 2000

Annual UCLA survey finds the 2000 entering freshman class is using computers in record numbers, studying less, and earning higher grades.

A fall 2000 survey of freshmen finds that a record-breaking 78.5 percent of these students used computers regularly during the year before attending college—an increase of more than 10 percent from 1999 and nearly triple the 1985 rate of 27.3 percent.

Women have almost pulled even with men in computer use, with 77.8 percent of women and 79.5 percent of men reporting frequent computer use. But when asked to compare themselves with peers, women are only half as likely as men are to rate their computer skills as "above average" or within the "top 10 percent"—23.2 percent versus 46.4 percent.

The gender gap in computer confidence has always favored men, but the gap in this freshman class is the largest in the history of the survey. Women are less likely than men to participate frequently in Internet chat rooms and less likely to report frequent online use for other reasons.

Now in its 35th year, the UCLA survey has been conducted annually since 1966 by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies in association with the American Council on Education. It is the nation's longest-standing and most comprehensive assessment of student attitudes and plans. Data culled from 269,413 students at 434 four-year colleges and universities has been statistically adjusted to be representative of the 1.1 million freshmen entering four-year colleges and universities as first-time, full-time students last fall.

The survey finds that freshmen are spending less time studying and doing homework than in previous years. Only 36 percent of entering college students report studying or doing homework six or more hours per week in the last year. This marks the lowest figure since this question was first asked in 1987, when 47 percent reported studying six or more hours weekly.

Although students are spending less time studying, their high school grades continue to climb, with 42.9 percent of freshmen earning A averages in high school, compared with a record 42.7 percent last year and a low of 17.6 percent in 1968. The percent reporting C averages or lower remained at last year's record low of 6.6 percent, compared with a high of 23.1 percent in 1968.

For a summary of the UCLA survey, visit: www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html.