The College Student Today

Okay, I'll admit it - it took me a while to get going on this particular blog entry. The topic posed - "the college student today" - seemed so extraordinarily broad that every time I would sit down to write this blog entry I would think of another component to add, get frustrated, and throw in the towel. Asking someone to speak about "the college student today" is like asking someone to speak about "children today" or "adults today" - where do you begin to describe the multitude of different people that encompass that category? That is why I am interested to read my classmates' blogs, because, like snowflakes and, well, like college students today, each individual one will certainly not be like the rest.

I decided to turn to a trusted source on college students today - the fine folks of NASPA, or, in non-acronymic terms, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators - to help me define the college student today. Who is he or she? What do they look like? What are their future aspirations? What are their values and beliefs?

After digging around NASPA's website for a while, I came across some very useful information - NASPA annually puts together what they refer to as a "Profile of Today's College Student," and it is extraordinarily detailed and tailored exactly to what I wanted to write about in this blog entry. (Thanks NASPA!) I was disheartened to see that the latest information they had compiled was from 2008, but still, it handidly gives insight into what I entered graduate school to learn all about - the topic of this blog post, the college student today.

To list all of the information gathered from this extensive report would be enough to begin work on a small book. That said, I will pull from the report highlights that I find interesting and, if anyone wants to read more, I encourage you to check out the full report for yourself at http://www.naspa.org/divctr/research/profile/results.cfm.

Our college student today is primarily full-time (90.58%), has never transferred (71.71%), is not an international student (96.94%), and is a female (a whopping 62.71%, compared to just 37.05% guys). 69.78% of college students today are white, followed by, in order, Asian/Pacific Islanders (8.32%), Latino(a)/Hispanics (6.78%), and Black/African-Americans (4.62%). Middle Eastern and Indigenous/Native American students account for less than 1% of those surveyed. 3.61% of the students surveyed are multiracial, and 5.44% of the students preferred not to answer the question at all. Most of our students only speak one language, were born in the United States, and are Christian/Catholic (24.51%). Most identify themselves as heterosexual/straight (92.34%), live on-campus (38.11%), work as well as attend school (63.42%), and communicate with their parents daily (40.94%).

So basically, I just described myself.

I am a full-time student that has never transferred, I am not an international student, I am a female, I am white, I only speak one language (unless you count my weak and feeble attempts to speak Spanish, which I most certainly do not consider fluent), I was born in the United States, I am Christian (not Catholic though), I am straight, I work as well as attend school, and I communicate with my parents daily (hi Mom!). The only characteristic I don't fit is that I don't live on-campus.

So basically, if I moved into Crosby Hall, I would be the living, breathing prototype of the college student today. Interesting, and not what I expected.

Most students attend college because they want to get ahead in life (28.13%) and most aspire to earn a master's degree (45.60%). Most, immediately after they graduate, want to get a job (43.28%), and most want to make between $40,000 and $59,999 right out of the chute (35.44%). Good luck with that, friends.

I am very happy to report that most students surveyed "strongly agree" with the following statements - I enjoy learning for the sake of learning (48%), it is important to make a difference in the world (55.18%), it is important to give back to my community (51.85%), it is important to stand up for what I believe in (73.81%), and I treat others with respect (76.32%).

This is some really, really interesting data. I'm excited for the 2009 report to come out so that I can see if our "college student today" changed any in the last year.

If I have already learned this much after just one blog entry, I am thrilled to see what I'll learn throughout the course of the entire semester. "The college student today" is what I came to Ole Miss to learn all about, and I can't wait to learn even more about him...um, her (I still can't get over that percentage).