The study reported in this paper examined the computer competencies of 193 undergraduate students at East Carolina University (North Carolina). A 10-item questionnaire inquired about previous computer courses in both high school and college. About 50 percent of the students had taken a computer course or had worked with computers at home or on the job. The study found that: (1) students had studied all sorts of programs in their previous schooling but had forgotten most of them; (2) students learned programs such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word out of school and continued to use them; (3) students had little familiarity with DOS or other operating systems; and (4) few students were familiar with multimedia applications. Three conclusions are based on these findings. First, high school and college students should start with word processing programs such as WordPerfect because inexpensive student versions of these programs are available. Second, Windows-like programs and others with icons and pull down menus are the favorites with students and mask the operating systems. There seems to be little need to teach programs such as DOS or BASIC. Third, students need opportunities to use their computer skills, or they soon lose them. The impact on teacher education of the implementation of a K-12 computer skills curriculum in North Carolina is also addressed. (KRN)