The Typical College Student Has Changed

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Despite the economy, increased outcry over costs, and debate about the value, forty-one percent of 18-24-year-olds attend college. But who goes and how they go are changing.

Almost a half of high school grads are in college, compared with roughly a third 30 years ago.

Black, Hispanic and white students are increasing. Eighty-seven percent have laptop computers. There are more adult learners, greater proportions attend part-time and there are more transfers and dual enrollments reports Sara Lipka in The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Almanac 2012-13."

About a third of all students switch schools once. Lower tuition at community colleges is often involved in transfers.

Business is the highest major for bachelor's degrees; however, the fastest growing major in the past three decades has been in transportation and the moving of materials.

Other articles in the "Almanac" provide eye-opening higher ed information on costs, faculty and administrator salaries, and data on each state.