The fifteenth annual report of national normative data on characteristics of students entering college as first-time, full-time freshmen is presented as part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. The 1980 normative data are based on responses from 187,124 freshmen entering 355 institutions, of which 19 were new and 336 old participants. Four-year colleges are included in the national norms if over 85 percent of their first-time, full-time freshmen completed the Student Information Form (SIF); universities must have over 75 percent participation, while two-year colleges must have 50 percent. The normative data were collected by administering the 1980 SIF during registration, freshman orientation, or the first few weeks of classes. The SIF is designed to elicit a wide range of biographic and demographic data, as well as data on the student's high school background, career plans, educational aspirations, financial arrangements, high school activities, and current attitudes. Those data meeting minimal quality requirements for inclusion in the 1980 norms were differentially weighted to represent the population of entering freshmen at all higher educational institutions in the United States. Part-time students and those who are not first-time college students (i.e., transfers and former enrollees) were excluded from the normative sample. The normative data are reported separately for women and men, and for 39 different groupings of institutions. The major stratifying factors are institutional race (predominantly black versus predominantly white); type (two-year college, four-year college, university); control; and the selectivity level of the institution. Information on weighting procedures and research design and a sample SIF are included. (SW)