American College Students

2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey

Total Jewish Population Base (Age 18-29)

Age Group	College Students (Undergraduates)	Graduate Students	Not currently in college/grad school
18-24	237,200	31,100	232,600
25-29	33,800	57,500	221,500
Total	271,000	88,600	454,100

Most American Jews, including college students, observe a number of important Jewish holidays and rituals.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Light Chanukah candles	72%	76%
Hold/attend Passover seder	67%	66%
Fast on Yom Kippur	59%	61%

Regarding Jewish religious denominations, college students are less likely than all U.S. Jews to identify as Conservative, and they are more likely to say they are secular or "just Jewish."

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Conservative	26%	17%
Orthodox	10%	10%
Reform	35%	35%
Secular	5%	10%
Just Jewish	20%	25%
Other	4%	4%

College students are less likely to have been to Israel, ^{1 sbout as likely to volunteer for a Jewish organization,
and more likely to use the Internet for Jewish purposes.}

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Ever been to Israel	35%	23%
Volunteered for Jewish organizations last year	25%	23%
Used Internet for Jewish purposes last year	39%	50%

¹The differences in rates of travel to Israel are likely due to age. College students, by virtue of being younger, have had less time to travel to Israel than other Jewish adults.

College students attend religious services less often than all U.S. Jews do, but the difference is modest.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Do not attend	39%	44%
Less than once a month	38%	39%
Once a month or more	23%	17%

The same discrepancy between Jewish college students and all U.S. Jews is evident in these measures of attitudes toward Judaism and Jewish peoplehood.

	College Students	All U.S. Jews
Religion very important in life	29%	31%
Strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people (strongly agree)	44%	59%
I have a clear sense of what being Jewish means to me (strongly agree)	62%	72%
Feel very positive about being Jewish	73%	78%

Jewish college students' have less intense feelings about Jewish peoplehood than all U.S. Jews.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Very emotionally attached to Israel	20%	28%
U.S. and Jews elsewhere share common destiny	34%	39%
U.S. and Israeli Jews share common destiny	31%	37%
Special responsibility to take care of Jews in need	21%	31%
American Jews have a greater responsibility to rescue Jews than non-Jews in distress	19%	30%

Similiarly, college and all U.S. Jews are more likely to say they are politically liberal than either moderate or conservative.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Liberal	56%	61%
Moderate	22%	18%
Conservative	22%	22%

College students and all U.S. Jews are more likely to identify as Democrats than as Republicans, independents, or something else.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Democrat	54%	53%
Republican	14%	16%
Independent	22%	14%
Something else	10%	17%

Over one-quarter of Jewish college students reported they personally experienced anti-Semitism in the year before the survey, slightly more than all U.S. Jews.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
Experienced antisemitism	21%	26%

College students perceive slightly less anti-Semitism in the United States than all U.S. Jews do, but most Jews perceive a moderate or great deal of anti-Semitism.

	All U.S. Jews	College Students
A great deal	34%	21%
Moderate amount	48%	58%
A little	18%	19%
Not at all	1%	3%

Nearly as many Jewish college students have one Jewish parent as have two Jewish parents.

Two Jewish parents	48%
One Jewish parent	45%
No Jewish parent	7%

Source: 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey, United Jewish Communities