Campus ID News
Card, mobile credential, payment and security
FEATURED
PARTNERS

Do you know mindset of your freshmen? Hint: Look for Dakota Fanning or Justin Bieber at freshman orientation

Andy Williams   ||   Aug 21, 2012  ||   

Members of this year’s freshman class, most of whom were born in 1994, prefer to watch television everywhere except on a television, have seen a woman lead the U.S. State Department for most of their lives and can carry school books–those that are not on their e-readers–in backpacks that roll.

Beloit College in Wisconsin has issued its annual Mindset List, something it has produced every year since 1998. The list provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. This year covers the class of 2016, members of whom have never needed an actual airline ticket or a set of bound encyclopedias.

The class of 2016 spent much of their lives helping their parents understand that you don’t take pictures on film and that CDs and DVDs are not tapes. In these students’ lifetimes, with MP3 players and iPods, they seldom listen to the car radio. In fact, a quarter of the entering students already have suffered some hearing loss.

For this generation of entering college students, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy have always been dead. Freshmen should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman orientation.

The Biblical sources of terms such as “Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the wall,” “Good Samaritan,” and “The Promised Land” are unknown to most of them. Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes American Royalty. If they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube. On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb blonde female generally has been replaced by a couple of dumb and dumber males.

The complete list can be accessed here.

|| TAGS:
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

RECENT ARTICLES

Transact + CBORD is now Illumia
Mar 05, 26 /

Transact + CBORD officially becomes Illumia, announces 2026 Distinction Award Winners

Transact + CBORD formerly announced its new name, visual identity, and branding as Illumia at its Momentum annual user conference. According to an announcement about the launch, the company powers payments, access, foodservice, and credentialing at more than 10,000 clients in higher education, healthcare, and senior living institutions. "The Momentum conference is the right place […]
BalanceU meal plan screenshot

New BalanceU meal plan aims to cut costs, open architecture, and free university data

FutureState, a new entrant to the campus credential, dining, and auxiliary service space, announced its new closed-loop, stored value and meal plan offering called BalanceU. “FutureState’s BalanceU is designed to help colleges and universities lower operating costs, eliminate vendor lock-in, and gain real-time financial visibility across campus,” says Christopher Augustine, Co-Founder and Head of Product […]
MyVenue POS with Illumia mobile credential on phone
Feb 26, 26 /

Transact + CBORD partners with MyVenue to extend stored value to campus stadiums

Transact + CBORD (rebranding to Illumia in March 2026) announced a new agreement with sports and entertainment point-of-sale (POS) provider MyVenue. The partnership allows students to use their campus card and stored-value campus funds for purchases inside stadiums and arenas. The integration adds MyVenue’s high-volume point-of-sale platform to Transact + CBORD’s campus commerce platform. Designed […]
CIDN logo reversed
The only publication dedicated to the use of campus cards, mobile credentials, identity and security technology in the education market. CampusIDNews – formerly CR80News – has served more than 6,500 subscribers for more than two decades.
Twitter

Great inverview on the Public Key Open Credential (PKOC) standard with ELATEC's Jason Ouellette, Chairman of the Board for the @PSIAlliance.

Attn: friends in the biometrics space. Nominations close Friday for the annual Women in Biometrics Awards. Take five minutes to recognize a colleague or even yourself. http://WomenInBiometrics.com

Load More...
Contact
CampusIDNews is published by AVISIAN Publishing
315 E. Georgia St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
www.AVISIAN.com[email protected]
Use our contact form to submit tips, corrections, or questions to our team.
©2026 CampusIDNews. All rights reserved.