Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

February 28, 2003

Survey: Some student views more conservative

by Anne Krapfl
Student views on issues such as gun control and military spending are more conservative, while many of their social attitudes are growing more liberal, according to an annual national survey of college freshmen.

Fewer Iowa State freshmen (22.3 percent) label their political views as "far left" than did a year ago (24.5 percent). The categories "middle of the road" (52.2 percent) and "conservative" (23.8 percent) saw modest growth from a year ago.

The survey is coordinated, since 1966, by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles; Iowa State has participated since 1971. Nationwide, 437 colleges and universities participated this year. At Iowa State, 3,274 first-time, full-time students voluntarily completed the survey last June during orientation.

Survey coordinators at UCLA said they believe some of the current short- term shifts to conservative views reflect the impact of events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Student use of personal computers, including Internet use for both homework and personal "surfing," continues to climb. Among incoming ISU freshmen, 79.3 percent reported using the Internet "frequently" for homework in the last year, and 89.8 percent reported using personal computers frequently, including Net surfing for non-homework purposes. However, only 7.9 percent of ISU freshmen said information received from a Web site was "very important" in their selection of a college.

Following is a sample of responses in this year's survey, comparing ISU responses to national responses and, when possible, the 1992 ISU fall freshman class. All numbers are percentages.

	ISU 2002	ISU 1992	National 2002
Student rated self above average or top 10 percent in age group on
Drive to achieve	70.7	75.6	70.5
Academic ability	78.4	71.6	69.5
Computer skills	47.0	NA	37.6
Math ability	57.4	48.0	45.2
Public speaking ability	37.8	35.5	36.7
Writing ability	47.2	47.3	46.4
Social self-confidence	48.6	53.3	50.3

Student applied to X number of schools (including this one)
One	39.8	36.9	20.2
Two	18.1	18.9	13.0
Three	16.2	19.4	15.9
Four to six	21.0	22.4	37.1

This school is student's
First choice	87.3	84.5	69.2
Second choice	10.4	12.3	21.4

Highest degree student intends to earn (at any school)
Bachelor's	38.8	35.1	23.5
Master's	38.5	40.4	42.4
Ph.D. or Ed.D	12.7	12.4	17.4
M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M.	6.2	6.7	8.8
Law	2.0	1.7	4.9

Student's parents are
Both alive and living together	81.2	78.8	72.3
Both alive and divorced or living apart	16.4	17.4	24.1

Student's concern about paying for college
None	27.3	22.3	34.7
Some (but probably will have enough)	62.0	62.4	52.7
Major (not sure I'll have enough to finish)	10.7	15.3	12.6

Self characterization of political views
Far left or liberal	22.3	27.5	27.8
Middle of the road	52.2	51.4	50.8
Conservative or far right	25.5	21.1	21.3

Student agrees somewhat or strongly
Same-sex couples should have a right to marry legally	54.1	NA	59.3
Affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished	49.7	NA	49.0
Federal government should do more to control handgun sales	69.7	78.6	77.8
Abortion should be legal	49.7	67.4	53.6
Federal military spending should be increased	44.2	12.6	45.0

Source: ISU Office of Institutional Research
Note: responses may not always add to 100; not all response options included