More freshmen are regularly using computers in the year prior to entering college, according to the results of UCLA's annual survey of first-year students.

The fall 2000 survey conducted by researchers at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies found a record-breaking 78.5 percent of first-year students using computers, an increase of more than 10 percent from last year's findings, and nearly triple the rate reported in 1985, when the question was first included in the survey.

Additionally, the survey concludes that although female freshmen have significantly closed the gender gap in computer use, there exists an overwhelming difference in confidence of skill levels between male and female students. Findings also disclosed that women students are less likely than men to engage in Internet chat rooms, go online for other reasons or activities or devote as much time to playing computer games.

Now in its 35th year, the UCLA survey was culled from data from 404,667 students at 717 institutions.

More survey details are available online or by contacting UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute at (310) 825-1925; heri@ucla.edu.