In 1966, 5 North Carolina colleges joined together in a cooperative research effort funded by USOE under a Consortium Research Development Program grant. The program was structured to conduct a continuing inquiry into the characteristics of entering freshmen at the colleges--Bennett College, North Carolina College at Durham, St. Augustine's College, Shaw University, and Winston-Salem State College--and to plan curricula changes that would provide optimum opportunities for freshmen to perform well academically. This report includes data collected from 1966 to 1969 that are basically descriptive of the characteristics of freshmen at the 5 colleges. The data include: enrollment trends, educational preparation of freshmen, financial aid available to freshmen, a survey of the students' home communities, and the students' educational and vocational aspirations and achievement. A validity study was used to analyze the data. In addition, a preliminary study is presented of the relations among personality variables, SAT scores, and grade point averages, and a description is included of representative facets of developmental programs at each of the 5 colleges. The developmental programs were designed to overcome academic deficiencies revealed in the data collected on the entering freshmen. The bulk of the report consists of tables. (JS)