Penn State CORE: College Relationships And Experiences Survey - Year 2

Executive Summary

Penn State CORE is a longitudinal study of the experiences and well-being of Penn State undergraduate students across the Commonwealth. Students from all 20 undergraduate campuses participated. This ongoing study gives voice to students as they share about their lives as Penn State undergrads, informs ways that Penn State can enhance their experiences, and serves as a gateway for students to engage more closely with Penn State research studies.

The initial wave of data collection was conducted in Spring 2023, yielded responses from a diverse group of more than 4,000 students across their first through fourth years of study. The second wave of data was successfully initiated in Spring 2024 and included a total, again, of over 4,000 students. Of those 4,000+ students, 1,367 were returning participants from the previous year, with 153 of those respondents former PSU undergrads. Not only did we assess the same previous measures from last year including:

demographic information,
food and housing insecurity,
first-generation student status,
sexual and gender minority status,
belongingness,
campus healthcare utilization,
mental health (including academic stress),
substance use behaviors,

But we were also able to expand our questions on flourishing, and tailor some specific questions for those who were no longer undergrads (i.e., employment, health care, debt etc).

This Executive Summary Report from the Year 2 survey presents key findings for the overall sample (4,017), students from University Park (2,653), students from the Commonwealth campuses (1,211) and former PSU undergraduate students (153). Overall, 12% of current PSU students report high academic distress scores, 25% report high anxiety scores, and over 45% report high depression scores, yet only 11% reported using campus healthcare resources in the past month. Food insecurity was reported by 35% of all current students. Risky alcohol use, cigarette use, vaping, and cannabis use – including experimenting with Delta-8 THC – are highest at the University Park campus.

This ongoing study will follow these students annually and recruit another new cohort of first-year students from across the Commonwealth to join year 3 of the study in Spring 2025. Additionally, fourth-year students will be followed for one additional year to study their well-being and employment outcomes.

Penn State CORE is funded by the Office of the Provost, the Social Science Research Institute, the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences, and the College of Health and Human Development.

Campus Representation

	Campus	Number of Participants
Number of Participants by Penn State Campus
University Park
	University Park	2653
Commonwealth Campuses
	Behrend/Erie	247
	Harrisburg	188
	Altoona	156
	Abington	129
	Berks	103
	Scranton	51
	Brandywine	49
	Schuylkill	40
	Mont Alto	31
	York	31
	Kensington	29
	DuBois	24
	Beaver	23
	Lehigh Valley	23
	Fayette	20
	Greater Allegheny	20
	Hazelton	18
	Wilkes-Barre	15
	Shenango	8
	World Campus	6
Total	—	1,211
Former PSU Undergrads
	Former PSU Undergrads	153
Grand Total	—	4,017

Demographics

General Demographics

Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	Campus Groups
Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	University Park, N = 2,653¹	Commonwealth Campuses, N = 1,211¹	Former PSU Undergrads, N = 153¹
Previous Participant
Yes	1,367 (34.0%)	799 (30.1%)	415 (34.3%)	153 (100.0%)
No	2,650 (66.0%)	1,854 (69.9%)	796 (65.7%)	0 (0.0%)
Age	20.2 (1.38)	20.1 (1.27)	19.9 (1.41)	22.4 (1.01)
Gender Identity²
Woman	2,501 (62.3%)	1,726 (65.1%)	674 (55.7%)	101 (66.0%)
Man	1,365 (34.0%)	841 (31.7%)	478 (39.5%)	46 (30.1%)
Sexual & Gender Minority³	739 (18.8%)	475 (18.3%)	246 (20.9%)	18 (11.8%)
Race²
White only	2,928 (72.9%)	1,936 (73.0%)	882 (72.8%)	110 (71.9%)
Black only	167 (4.2%)	97 (3.7%)	67 (5.5%)	Less than 5
Asian only	553 (13.8%)	357 (13.5%)	167 (13.8%)	29 (19.0%)
Multiracial	209 (5.2%)	157 (5.9%)	42 (3.5%)	10 (6.5%)
Missing/Decline to answer	84 (2.1%)	53 (2.0%)	31 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)
Hispanic Origin	330 (8.3%)	243 (9.2%)	82 (6.8%)	5 (3.3%)
School Year
First year	995 (24.8%)	598 (22.5%)	397 (32.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Second year	984 (24.5%)	621 (23.4%)	363 (30.0%)	0 (0.0%)
Third year	1,022 (25.4%)	786 (29.6%)	236 (19.5%)	0 (0.0%)
Fourth year	788 (19.6%)	600 (22.6%)	188 (15.5%)	0 (0.0%)
Other	60 (1.5%)	38 (1.4%)	22 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Prefer not to answer	15 (0.4%)	10 (0.4%)	5 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)
Former PSU Undergrads	153 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	153 (100.0%)
Living Situation
Off-campus	2,546 (63.4%)	1,536 (57.9%)	858 (70.9%)	152 (99.3%)
On-campus	1,445 (36.0%)	1,105 (41.7%)	339 (28.0%)	Less than 5
Prefer not to answer	26 (0.6%)	12 (0.5%)	14 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)
¹ n (%); Mean (SD)
² Data for additional categories are available in the comprehensive report.
³ Participants were included in this category if their gender identity was different from ‘man’ or ‘woman’, or if their sexual identity was different from ‘heterosexual or straight’. Data on sexual identity categories are available in the comprehensive report.

Food Security (Past Month)

Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	Campus Groups
Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	University Park, N = 2,653¹	Commonwealth Campuses, N = 1,211¹	Former PSU Undergrads, N = 153¹
Food Security
Food Insecure	1,397 (34.8%)	900 (33.9%)	464 (38.3%)	33 (21.6%)
Food Secure	2,620 (65.2%)	1,753 (66.1%)	747 (61.7%)	120 (78.4%)
¹ n (%)

Housing Security (Past Month)

Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	Campus Groups
Characteristic	Overall, N = 4,017¹	University Park, N = 2,653¹	Commonwealth Campuses, N = 1,211¹	Former PSU Undergrads, N = 153¹
Housing Security
Housing Insecure	227 (5.9%)	140 (5.5%)	79 (7.0%)	8 (5.4%)
Housing Secure	3,608 (94.1%)	2,414 (94.5%)	1,054 (93.0%)	140 (94.6%)
¹ n (%)