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Tuesday, February 8, 2005
More new college students expect debt
Annual survey also finds that more will need to find a job
More new college students are expecting to take on jobs, borrow at least $10,000 for their first year and receive that much from their families, according to a comprehensive annual survey of incoming freshmen.
UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, which has been surveying freshmen annually for 39 years, also found a record number of students defining themselves as "far right" or "far left" politically and a record low calling themselves "middle of the road." Fewer than ever believe racial discrimination is a problem.
A record 47.2 percent of the 289,000 freshmen who started college last year said there is a good chance they will get a job to help pay for their education, with 53.3 percent of women and 39.6 percent of men saying they would need to find work.
The 29.5 percent expecting more than $10,000 in family support was the highest figure since the question was first asked in 2001. The percentage expecting to borrow more than $10,000 their first year rose to 8.8 percent from 7.8 percent last year and 5.6 percent in 2001.
However, only 13 percent reported "major" concerns about paying for college, compared with a record high of 19.1 percent in 1995.
The survey, released last week, found more students than ever viewing themselves as politically extreme, with 3.4 percent calling themselves "far left" and 2.2 percent "far right."
The percentage of students identifying themselves as liberal (26.1 percent) or conservative (21.9 percent) also rose from last year. The category "middle of the road" remained the most common at 46.4 percent, but declined 4 percentage points from a year ago to its lowest level in 30 years.
The survey also found a record 22.7 percent of freshmen believe that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in America, but the number reporting that they frequently socialized with members of other racial or ethnic groups fell slightly, as it has since 2001, to 67.8 percent.
An all-time high of 47.5 percent of freshmen said they had "A" averages in high school, compared with a record low of 17.6 percent in 1968.
The 42.8 percent who reported being bored in class during their final year of high school also was a record.
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