Technological preparedness among entering freshmen: The role of race, class, and gender

Increasingly, colleges and universities expect technological proficiency among their incoming students. Using data from a nationwide survey of college freshmen, this study demonstrates that students' level of technological preparedness varies by such key factors as race, class, gender, and academic background. Further, racial/ethnic differences in experience with technology persist despite controls for key explanatory variables including parental income, parental education, and high school type. Institutional awareness of these inequities is critical at a time when colleges and universities are rapidly incorporating computers into nearly all aspects of the college experience, including admissions, the curriculum, class registration, and student life in general. We suggest that these pre-college disparities in the use of electronic mail and the Internet, if not attended to, may seriously compromise some students' ability to navigate through and benefit from college.