Institutional Research and Planning Room 306 1871 Old Main Drive Shippensburg, PA 17257 Phone: (717)-477-1154 Fax: (717)-477-4077 irp@ship.edu

CIRP Trends The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) has collected data on new college freshmen for over 30 years. Shippensburg University first participated in 1975 and has since administered the Student Information Form to new freshmen regularly. Primarily, the CIRP focuses on the backgrounds, attitudes, activities, self-perceptions, values, expectations, and goals of new college students. Given the consistency of numerous items on the CIRP, longitudinal analyses are possible. This study capitalizes on this advantage by viewing trends in Shippensburg's freshmen in comparison to national norms from 1975, 1980, 1985, 1991, and 1996. Demographically, new students were found to come to Shippensburg from increasingly greater distances over time but less so than students at comparable institutions. Students' parents are more highly educated and generally show higher incomes. Behaviors such as attending religious services and volunteer work showed near stability over time. It is notable however, that while alcohol consumption has moderated over time, usage of tobacco has increased. Shippensburg's freshmen reported higher consumption of both than did freshmen nationally. Students in both the national and Shippensburg samples reported increased feelings of being overwhelmed while at the same time self-ratings of emotional health were on the decline. Other indicators of self-evaluation showed growth in such areas as writing and overall academic abilities. In most cases, Shippensburg's freshmen rated themselves lower in abilities than freshmen nationally, an interesting point given the high retention and academic success of the same students. In general, the political views of new students at Shippensburg have been relatively moderate and have moved to the right. Nevertheless, students tend to more highly favor national health care, abortion, and the legalization of marijuana while at the same time show decreasing support for laws prohibiting homosexual relationships. Increasingly, students at Shippensburg and nationally go to college to become financially well off. They also give high importance to raising a family. Shippensburg remains attractive to new students and competitive because of its good academic reputation.