Politics tops student interests in annual HERI survey.(Higher Education Research Institute)

Among first-year women, 75% consider themselves to be above average or in the highest 10% in having a drive to achieve. And 58% think their leadership skills are above average. With any luck, many future women leaders will come from this group of freshmen.

While the women rated their willingness to work hard as high, only 48% of them felt they were above average in social self-confidence and emotional health. Even fewer, 34%, rated themselves as above average on public speaking skills. The intent to succeed is there, but confidence in their abilities seems to be lacking. Public speaking is an important tool that will need to be added to their skill set.

With the cost of college rising much faster than inflation, a majority of students (64.1%) are worried about their ability to pay for their education. The increase on the maximum Pell grant will help, but more of them than in past years plan to get jobs while in school.

These and other findings were just some of the results of this year's survey of college freshmen conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Each year HERI tallies students' views on a variety of issues and collects demographic information on who is going to college. Researchers surveyed more than 270,000 high school seniors last year.

Interested in politics

Students of both genders expressed significantly greater interest in politics than in previous years. They're discussing politics more than ever and, in a trend that may not bode well for feminist issues, almost 24% described themselves as politically conservative, a 1.3% increase from last year. But the number of students classifying themselves as liberals also increased to 28%, the highest since 1975.

These figures may predict a greater polarization of hot-button issues with little middle ground for compromise. Look for some of the conflict to play out in student newspapers and in requests for campus speakers. How frequently the First Amendment will be challenged remains to be seen, but 37% of the female first-year students agreed that schools have the right to ban extreme speakers from campus.