The Internet is a way of life for U.S. college students, as research finds that they represent one of the most connected demographic groups. A collaborative study by Harris Interactive and 360 Youth revealed that 93 percent of college students access the Internet in a given month, and Jupiter Research (a unit of this site's corporate parent) expects this market to slowly swell from 15.2 million in 2003 to 16.4 million in 2007.

The slow growth rate of these early adopters could be attributed to the already high penetration of college Internet users. In fact, the Fall 2002 Harris study found that a whopping 88 percent of college students own a computer, and more than half (56 percent) have broadband connections. Furthermore, 67 percent own cell phones and 36 percent use their mobile devices to access the Internet.

The high level of penetration is largely due to the fact that many college-age students essentially grew up with computers and have incorporated the Internet into their daily routines. A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 20 percent of the 2,000+ college students that were surveyed between March 2002 and June 2002 began using computers between the ages of 5 and 8, translating into a huge college population of Internet users. Also, 47 percent first began using the Internet at home before they arrived at college, and 85 percent own their own computer.

Are all these college students using the Internet for research? Not according to findings from Pew, which indicate that 42 percent primarily go online to communicate socially, and almost three-quarters (72 percent) of college students check email at least once a day, with 66 percent using at least two email addresses. The most popular online social activity is forwarding messages to friends or family, with 37 percent of college students reporting doing so.