The system of higher professional education being updated in Russia, including the federal state educational standards, calls for an orientation toward the interests of customers, providing students with greater opportunities to choose and implement their own educational trajectory, increasing the proportion of independent creative research work by students, using innovative technologies of instruction (e.g., interactive and project planning). The desired result is the formation of the college student's overall cultural and professional competence. This ongoing process reinforces the perception of the college instructor as first and foremost a scientist who fosters students' professional development by introducing them to scientific research activity, supporting self-directed learning activity via assignments (projects) and offering corrections while counseling and checking results in the certification process. This kind of interaction as a type of learning and scientific collaboration, the individualization of educational trajectories, and the use of innovative instruction technologies have substantial potential for personal and professional development. The implementation of the new educational programs is expected to foster the development of college students' professional competence, permit a fuller satisfaction of their needs, develop their individual creative potential, and raise the training of professionals to a new level. However, this system is oriented toward students who are actively committed and resourceful, who pursue personal and professional growth and have mastered self-education skills, who are capable of directing their own learning activity and development in a purposeful and responsible manner. To what extent do today's new college students match that image? Are they prepared and able to fit into such a system and take advantage of its possibilities? As factors that influence the quality of education, one should explore not just the cadre, teaching methodological, material technical, and other elements of the instruction process but also the characteristics of "input material"--the educational competence of new students. This article looks at higher education from this standpoint and assigns the role of central figure to the student. It offers, on the level of a theoretical construct, an understanding of educational competence and, after assessing the psychological characteristics of today's college applicants and students from this angle, designates a range of potential problems and ways to solve them. (Contains 1 note.) [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]