Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) [United States]: Freshman Survey, 1985

The principal purposes of this national longitudinal study of the higher education system in the United States are to describe the characteristics of new college freshmen and to explore the effects of college on students. For each wave of this survey, each student completes a questionnaire during freshman orientation or registration that asks for information on academic skills and preparation, high school activities and experiences, educational and career plans, majors and careers, student values, and financing college. Other questions elicit demographic information, including sex, age, parental education and occupation, household income, race, religious preference, and state of birth. Specific questions asked of respondents in the 1985 survey pertained to students' self-ratings of their academic ability, artistic ability, physical health, self-confidence, and writing ability. Other questions provided information regarding students' institutional race, institutional type, institutional sex, as well as their tuition fees, transportation costs, and books and supplies expenses.