Almost all freshmen considered their parents’ participation in their college careers to be the “right amount,” with 84 percent reporting the “right amount” of parental involvement in their decision to go to college, 81 percent in their decision to attend the college at which they enrolled and 78 percent in dealing with college officials. 

Tom Robinson

Conversely, a quarter of freshmen report that their parents were not helpful enough in selecting college courses, and 23 percent say their parents were not involved enough in helping choose college activities. Hispanics and Latinos were considerably more concerned than whites that their parents were not sufficiently involved.

The annual CIRP Freshman Survey of the nation's entering undergraduates is part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) and is administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Since 1966, 13 million students at 1,900 colleges and universities have participated.

Other findings . . .

Reasons for choosing a college

Almost two-thirds of freshmen cited academic quality as the top reason for choosing a particular college. That is a significant jump from past surveys, and the highest it has been in 35 years. There was a six-point jump to 39 percent in the importance of being awarded financial assistance. The study’s authors surmise that public concern about accountability and affordability is hitting home.

Social Networking

In past surveys, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook were off the radar. A lot has changed.   

Today 86 percent of incoming freshmen spend time on these sites, with 18 percent spending six or more hours a week. Almost half log one to five hours weekly. That about equals the time spent partying, clubbing, attending group activities and watching television. Live interaction dwarfed the online experience; almost three-fourths of freshmen spend six or more hours a week socializing with friends.