[hardwired]

Now to start off the student class would probably be best.
Agreed.

Am I correct in stating that the student class is to create a constructor for student to hold information about EACH student?
Not exactly. The Student class can and probably should (logically would) have a constructor that is used to build the class. Typically, the constructor is where and how we pass the information/values into/to the class which it needs/uses for initialization, viz, to initialize its fields, aka, member variables.
For example, if I make up a class with two fields and initialize them through a constructor it might look like this:

Code:

class Pseudo {
    Date today;
    String subject;

    public Pseudo(Date date, String subject) {
        today = date;
        this.subject = subject;
    }
}

// Creat an instance of Pseudo and sace a reference to it (the newly created object) in a variable named "pseudo":

Code:

Pseudo pseudo = new Pseudo(Calendar.getInstance().getTime(), "constructors");
// What's the subject of "pseudo?"
System.out.println("pseudo's subject = " + pseudo.subject);

Now it is more accurate to say that the class instance will hold the values I gave it for initialization when I instantiated (created) it with the new operator.
For more on constructors see Providing Constructors for Your Classes.

Could someone give me an idea of how many variables I would need to hold the sufficient information.
The assignment lists them explicitly, under "Test Data":
Quiz1 Quiz2 Quiz3 Project1 Project2 Project3 Midterm Final Attendance Xcredit1 Xcredit2 Xcredit3
12 total. Each example file has that many integers in it. So you'll need to make arrangements to accept and store (with member variables) each of these in your Strudent class.

Or would the variables just include things like string Quiz1, string Quiz2, up to String xCred3?
Yes.