CIRP Freshman Survey � Executive Summary
Philip Batty, Director of Institutional Analysis
This is a report of results from the 2006 administration of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey.� The survey was administered during orientation last summer.� The results reported here are for the 3,241 respondents who indicated that they would be full-time FTIACs in the fall.
Following are some areas in which GVSU�s freshmen differ from freshmen at similar schools nationwide.� Please refer to the report �2006 CIRP Institutional Summary� for additional details.� Reports showing trends and gender differences in GVSU freshmen�s responses are also available.
� GVSU freshmen regard GVSU highly�� Our students were more likely to be attending their first choice school (84% vs. 77%).� Among those who were not at their 1st choice school, GVSU students were more likely to have been accepted at their first choice school (72% vs. 56%).
� Alcohol and tobacco use is much lower among GVSU freshmen� According to their self-reports, GVSU students are less likely to have drank beer (20% vs. 40%), drank wine or liquor (26% vs. 54%), or smoked cigarettes frequently (2% vs. 5%) in the last year.
� GVSU freshmen are less politically involved�� GVSU students are less likely than national peers to consider �influencing the political structure� an important personal goal (14% vs. 22%) or to value �keeping up to date with political affairs� highly (30% vs. 38%).
� GVSU freshmen have less experience with ethnic diversity� �Our students were more likely to describe their high school as �Mostly White� or �Completely White� (81% vs. 69%).� They were also less likely to say they had socialized frequently with someone of another ethnic group in the past year (59% vs. 65%).
� GVSU freshmen emphasize utilitarian reasons for attending college�� Our students are more likely to indicate �getting a better job� (74% vs. 70%) or �train for a specific career� (75% vs. 69%) as important reasons for attending college.�
� GVSU freshmen are concerned about financing college�� GVSU freshmen are less likely than peers to indicate confidence in their ability to finance their education (30% vs. 44%).� They�re more likely to say they�ll get a job to pay for college (60% vs. 41%) �and to count on saving from summer work to cover expenses (67% vs. 48%).
For more information on these survey results, please see the attached reports*, or contact the Office of Institutional Analysis (331-8648).