Penn State Student Newspaper Readership Program was established by President Graham B. Spanier in 1997. The program offers students USA Today, the New York Times, and a local/regional newspaper at no additional cost. At University Park, the Centre Daily Times and The Daily Collegian are available. All newspapers are provided at no additional cost to students.
The goals of the program are to enhance the learning environment on campus; increase students' knowledge of community, national, and world events; to encourage a lifelong daily newspaper readership habit, and to create citizens who are more engaged in their local communities. Learn more about the program.
In 2005, Penn State partnered with Educational Benchmarking, Inc. to pilot a national study on newspaper readership. The data overwhelmingly support the relationship between newspaper readership and developing cognitive skills; increasing one's awareness, understanding, and ability to articulate views on current issues; and developing civic-mindedness. In addition, there is a strong relationship between newspaper readership and student engagement both on campus and in the community. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that utilizing the newspaper in the classroom promotes newspaper readership and further extends the learning outcomes articulated in the survey. With students' reporting high levels of satisfaction with the Student Newspaper Readership Program increases program and their readership, the findings firmly support the educational value of providing a newspaper readership program on college campuses.
For more information on the assessment efforts please see the reports below.
Penn State Pulse - Newspaper Readership
Additional Assessment Data from the Student Satisfaction Survey