Seventy-two percent of college seniors have registered and voted at least once in their lives, according to data cited by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. But, the institute warns, college seniors can answer less than half of a set of basic questions on issues of citizenship and civic engagement.

The institute sponsored a study conducted by the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy in which 14,000 randomly selected seniors and freshmen on 50 campuses nationwide were given a 60-question, multiple-choice test about U.S. history and national institutions.

College seniors nationwide scored an average of just 49 percent correct, with freshmen at three campuses — St. Thomas University in Florida, Oakwood College in Alabama, and Eastern Connecticut State University — scoring less than 30 percent.

Students at Murray State University in Kentucky showed the greatest improvement between class years, with its seniors scoring nearly 8 percentage points better than its freshmen. Cornell University showed the greatest drop off, with its seniors faring almost 10 percentage points worse than its freshmen.

A previous survey by the institute, in 2006, showed the average college senior getting 54 percent of questions right.