National normative data on characteristics of students entering college as first-time, full-time freshmen are presented, based on results of the fall 1985 Cooperative Research Program survey. The data are weighted to represent the population of freshmen. Extensive statistical data are reported separately for women and men, and for 37 institutional groupings, based on the school's enrollment size, degree of selectivity, control, level, religious affiliation, and racial composition. The survey results revealed that students continue to support liberal positions on a number of key political and social issues. There is a continuing decline of freshman interest in traditional liberal arts majors, particularly the sciences. Significant increases occurred in the proportion of entering students participating in campus-funded aid and scholarship programs, but little change in the proportion of freshmen participating in federal grant and loan programs. Included are: a brief narrative summary of the results, information on the research methodology, the 1985 Student Information Form, a specification of region categories and the coding scheme, a list of participating institutions, and a sample survey report provided to a participating institution. (SW)