Driven to achieve: 40 years of evidence on college students’ skills and aspirations

The past half century has seen dramatic changes in college enrolment. In this paper, we document how the skills and aspirations of college students have also changed. Using over 40 years of data on incoming college freshmen, we establish three key facts. First, students’ goals have shifted away from the philosophical (e.g. finding meaning in life) towards the tangible (e.g. financial and family outcomes). Second, the share of students who are both of high ability and have high aspirations for tangible goals has risen steadily from the 1970s through the 2000s. Third, this rise is mirrored by a fall in students who, while quite strong academically, place low weight on life goals such as financial success, raising a family, or helping others.