Today's UC Davis freshman cares more about money than a first-year student 25 years ago. And the freshman who entered in fall 2001 takes a dimmer view of his or her health than the typical freshman 15 years ago.

In addition, UC Davis is attracting more students rejected by other universities. Just over half of today's freshmen said UC Davis is their first choice, down from 89 percent three decades ago.

These are just some of the findings gleaned from the UC Davis Freshman Generations study, a survey chock-full of snapshots about the beliefs and behaviors of incoming first-year students in 1976, 1986 and 2001.

Among the report's findings:

• Last year's UC Davis freshmen class is more interested in achieving financial stability through their education than the university's 1976 freshmen and less interested in developing a meaningful philosophy of life.
• Compared to their peers at other public universities across the country, UC Davis first-year students in 2001 studied more in high school.
• In 2001, 40 percent of freshmen identified themselves as politically liberal as opposed to 30 percent in 1986 and 33 percent in 1976.

Every three years the UC Davis Student Affairs Research and Information office surveys a random sample of incoming freshmen. The poll is part of UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program, which has surveyed students at 1,800 colleges and universities across the nation since 1968. Last summer 878 students - 59 percent women and 41 percent men - responded from a sample of 1,325 freshman. But this is the first time the office has undertaken a historical comparison of classes over time, said analyst Antoinette Davis, who wrote the 34-page report.

"You are looking at three decades of students," she said. We have a great deal of data now, and it's the millennium. It's simply an interesting thing to do."

Davis got a chuckle out of students' biggest life goal in 1976: cultivating a personal philosophy. Seventy percent of those students called that objective essential. "They are the products of the 1960s," she said.

• decade later, students' goals had changed. Most (72 percent) wanted to become an authority in their field. And in 2001, students were concerned with being very well off financially (75 percent).

Money isn't students' only concern, however. Sixty-eight percent of last year's students cited helping others in need as an important life goal, and 90 percent said they had performed volunteer work before coming to UC Davis.

Studies like SARI's can be useful for administrators to get ideas on how they can best serve students, said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Judy Sakaki. For instance, she said, the information about students' well-being could be offered to the university's health and counseling centers.

"We look at (the results) and say, 'Are there things we can do differently to help students be successful?'" she said.

Other tidbits from the survey include:

• In 1976, 14 percent of freshmen polled intended to major in the humanities. In 2001, that percentage had fallen to 6 percent.
• Forty percent of incoming UC Davis students in 2001 said they studied at least 11 hours a week during high school as compared to 16 percent of freshmen at other public universities.
• More UC Davis students want to study close to home these days. Twenty percent of last year's freshmen said the campus's proximity to where they grew up was very important to them. In 1986, 14 percent of students said that.

Sophomore Melissa Raski, a graduate of Dixon High School, can relate to that last finding. A straight-A student in high school, she looked for a university that would challenge her academically and keep her close by.

"I have close friends and family in the area," Raski said. "And I was already involved in the community. I wanted to stay a part of that."

Gary Tudor, the campus's director of undergraduate admissions and outreach services, said the survey proves UC Davis is doing a good job recruiting talented students. The statistics that show UC Davis to be less popular among some students now than in the 1970s and '80s don't concern Tudor. He noted changing UC admission procedures as a possible reason for the drop.

The 29-year UC Davis employee says he sees little difference between students of the 1970s and today. "I see the same kind of students," Tudor said. "There are just more of them."

In 1976, 2,002 freshmen enrolled at UC Davis. By 1986 the 2,477 were on campus. In 2001, the number had surged to 4,426.

With the right questions and a large enough sample, the surveys may paint an accurate picture of a generation, said Cheri Davis, a project manager for the state Energy Commission who was a freshman in 1985-86. But, she said, they need to "recognize, of course, that not every student would fit that mold."

While the survey did not ask students their ethnicity, the student affairs report noted the wholesale changes to the campus' ethnic make-up.

In 1976, 79 percent of UC Davis freshmen were white; by 2001 that figure had dropped to 39 percent. Also, the Asian American population has jumped from 9 to 42 percent of UC Davis freshmen. The percentage of Chicano/Latino students has risen from 4 to 10 percent. The African American first-year population was 3 percent in 1976 and 2001, though it rose in 1986 to 5 percent.

Garry Pearson, who graduated from UC Davis in 1980 and has worked on campus since 1982, said the shifting demographics are obvious. "I can tell that walking across campus or into the Rec Hall," said the vegetable crops facilities manager.

• Survey results are available at www. sariweb.ucdavis.edu, under "Publications."