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In our premier issue on
technology, published in 1996, 31 percent of the
500 prospective college students surveyed reported
having access to the Internet at home or at school.
Since then, Internet access has steadily increased,
rising to 72 percent in 1997, 82 percent in 1998,
94 percent in 2000, and 99 percent today. Specifically,
our study found that 94 percent have access to
the Internet at home while 79 percent have Internet
access at school.
Although Internet access
is largely universal and subgroup differences
therefore inconsequential, minor differences exist
on the basis of test scores, income, and geography:
- Ninety-seven percent
of students with SAT scores of 1270 and higher
reported access to the Internet at home compared
to 94 percent of those reporting scores of 1080
to 1260, and 88 percent of those reporting scores
of 1080 and below. This same pattern holds true
for ACT scores: 97 percent of students with
ACT scores of 26-plus have access to the Internet
at home compared to 93 percent of those with
scores in the 22-25 range and 88 percent with
scores of 21 or lower.
- Eighty-four percent
of students with family incomes of $75K and
above said they had access to the Internet at
school compared to 77 percent with incomes of
$50K-$75K, and 74 percent of those reporting
family incomes of $50K or lower.
- A higher percentage
of students from the West reported access to
the Internet at school (88 percent) compared
to those from the South (76 percent) and those
from the Northeast or New England (72 percent).
- A larger proportion
of students who did not apply for financial
aid in college also reported having access to
the Internet at school (86 percent) compared
to those applying for financial aid (78 percent).
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