Can a field store a date and/or any other data type?

I'm using Excel to keep data on students

I'm currently describing the state of any particular field as either '*' =

student has started this part of their programme - or a date "15/7/08" to 
describe their end/completion date for that same part of the programme

I want to im****t all this data into Access but can a field store a date 
and/or any other data type as per Excel?