In it for the money

From Research Methods in Psychology (p. 154-5):

Sax et al. (2003) reported the results for the portion of the survey in which students are asked to rate the importance of different values to assess students' need for meaning and purpose in their life. Two values were of particular interest: "the importance of developing a meaningful philosophy of life" and "the importance of being very well off financially" (pp. 6-7). Figure 5.3 [below] displays the results for the percentage of students who endorsed these values as "very important" or "essential." In the late 1960s, over 80% of students indicated that developing a meaningful philosophy of life was very important or essential -- in fact, this was the top value endorsed by students. In contrast, being well-off financially was very important or essential to less than 45% of the students, and ranked fifth or sixth among students' values during the late 1960s.

In 2003, the position of these values was reversed, with 73.8% of students endorsing being well-off financially as very important or essential. In 2003, developing a meaningful philosophy of life dropped to its lowest value in the survey history [sic], with 39.3% of students endorsing this as very important or essential. As can be seen in Figure 5.3, these contrasting trends in values began to shift in the early 1970s, crossed in 1977, and were completely reversed by the late 1980s. Since then, they have remained relatively unchanged. For example, data for 2006 indicate that 42% of first-year students regarded developing a meaningful philosophy of life as essential or very important (Bryant & Austin, 2006). Sax et al. (2003) emphasize that the contrasting trends in values since the late 1980s "reflect the continuing tension between extrinsic and intrinsic values within this generation of college students" (p. 7). Interestingly, these researchers also reported that 2003 was a record year for "volunteerism," with 83.1% of the college freshmen indicating that they participated in volunteer work their last year of high school, and a record number reported that there is a "very good chance" they will participate in volunteer work or community-service work during their college years.