At the University Park campus, students read 975,321 newspapers during the 2000-2001 academic year – 427,029 copies of USA Today, 281,111 copies of The New York Times and 267,181 copies of the Centre Daily Times, which is the local Knight-Ridder paper. At other Penn State campuses, 598,143 newspapers were picked up by students.

“Reading a newspaper each day is perhaps the single most important part of being an informed citizen,” says Penn State President Graham Spanier. “It is critical that college students develop an understanding of the world they will help shape.  Reading a newspaper will help them contribute to their careers, their communities, and their families.”

 In 1997, at Spanier’s suggestion, the University began providing free copies of The New York Times, USA Today, and a daily paper from the local community to students living in campus residence halls at University Park and eight other campuses. This past fall, the program, funded by student tuition, was expanded to include all students living both on- and off-campus. Using their regular student ID card, students can access more than 100 newspaper dispensing machines at 20 Penn State campuses offering undergraduate programs. Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law will be added to the readership program this fall. Ohio State, Texas A&M and Northwestern are among the colleges and universities that have similar newspaper programs for students.

Penn State students have benefited from the readership program in other ways. According to Al Matyasovsky, operations supervisor for the University’s Office of Physical Plant, 185 tons of newspaper were recycled at University Park last year. Recycled newspapers are marketed by Superior Waste Services and a portion of the profits is donated to the University's general scholarship fund. Since the inception of the readership program, 623 tons of newspapers have been recycled, and more than $23,000 added to the general scholarship fund. “Although University Park is the only campus that is generating scholarship dollars, students at all Penn State campuses benefit from the scholarship money,” he says. USA Today, The New York Times, and the Centre Daily Times offer matching contributions.       

Students at the University Park campus read a daily total of more than 7,000 copies of The New York Times, USA Today and Centre Daily Times. More than 1.5 tons of newspaper are recycled each day - twice as much as last year - and has produced enough material to cover the entire Beaver Stadium football field with newspapers 15 inches deep. It has also saved 11,815 trees and 2,085 cubic yards of landfill space, according to Matyasovsky.

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Contact:  Amy Neil, Department of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or e-mail aen4@psu.edu.