What % of college students are actually passionate about learning + not just doing what theyre expected to do?

Speaking as a college professor with around 15 years of experience, I've seen a definite change in the quality of students. Years ago, students generally seemed more interested in learning, but today, money and the potential to make more money is becoming more of the driving force for why they're attending. But I also have to say that even those students who are simply there to make more money later do generally want to learn. True, their initial reason for coming wasn't one of simply wanting to broaden their horizons and learn something new, but in the end, they do get some valuable information that does help them. What I have run into most often is the difference between the "younger" and the "older" students. Generally speaking in my experience, the younger ones like your 18 to 19 year olds aren't as motivated and dedicated as your older students, those who are in the 30's on up. And I see this in the classroom daily when they're working together. In general, it's those younger students who are the ones who fight with their professors more, talk over us while we're lecturing and explaining things, take their work less seriously, and find more excuses to get out of things. Now part of this is the fact that they're just young and relatively inexperienced in the world, but over the years, I've noticed this behavior growing worse and worse. And I've even had some of the older students say to me that they would prefer a class without those younger kids so they can concentrate on their studies more. But in the end, I think that most students do realize the value of a college education and eventually begin to take things more seriously.

As a college student myself I don't think there is one particular reason students go to college. I think it is a mixture of us being told that that's just what we should do, us wanting to have more/better career opportunities and us wanting to learn more about a subject that interest us. I'm only pulling from my experience and the experience of people in my circle of friends but it always seems to be a mix of those reasons. The biggest reason, though, tends to be the social aspect. Partying, starting fresh with a new identity and so on and so forth

about 0.00003884727837482818472849923127361923… according to my calculations

Really? Maybe it was my college, but I think almost everyone I knew in a variety of majors really enjoyed learning and debating and bouncing ideas off each other. Maybe it's the whole school scene - sitting around discussing the finer points of Rousseau over a soy latte on a balmy Tuesday morning. I also think most people simply liked challenges - sometime a math or physics problem just engulfs you and you cannot stop until it is solved. I remember discussion groups that would start after dinner and go to sunrise, even in freshman calc. Maybe you're not being cynical, maybe there are a lot of "girls-gone-wild" types at the colleges. Maybe I just didn't know too many. Oh well. In my experience probably 90% of the people I knew were passionate about understanding what they were majoring in.

I came out of college almost 10 years ago and my mindset at the time was one of survival and attaining the degree more than what I was actually studying. However, I do think that there were people more interested in their studies depending on the major.....I think that the music majors, and biology, chemistry majors seemed to have alot of students more interested in their studies than other majors. But that is a generalization....clearly there were varieties among all majors. But it's a good q......I suspect the % for people actually wanting to learn their studies to the tee is around 25-50% of all college students if I had to guess.

From what Ive seen, no more than 30%. And no, you arent being cynical.

I agree with you, and I used to be in that category until I started on my major which I love, and now I can't learn enough.

I would say verry few (varies by college) ........ maybe 7%?