School supplies are rarely cheap. Luckily, for Penn State students, there’s a program to help with that.

The School Supplies for Student Success program was developed through the Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success as a way to help give back to the students.

Undergraduate students have the opportunity to access free items for their classes once every two weeks. Students can visit the program during the center’s business hours 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“Students have basic needs for the classroom, too,” Assistant Director Chelsey Walls said. “The program’s goal is to help students enter the classroom with all of the supplies they need.”

As of March 17, the center is open and available for all undergraduate students on campus. Since the initial opening, several hundred students have come by to get supplies.

“There’s been really great work on campus around supporting students like the Lion’s Pantry and the basic needs closet,” Walls said. “Our office is focused on student support and academic success, and we wanted to see how we could make that contribution relating to us.”

A Barnes and Noble Bookstore Grant for the 2024-25 school year helps to keep the supplies in stock. Other than that, the program relies on donations to help keep supplies accessible for students. If interested in donating items to the School Supplies for Student Success program, folks can visit the Chaiken Center website or contact it at uestudentsuccess@psu.edu.

There are multiple locations where students can pick up supplies, including:

• College of Agricultural Sciences, 122 Ag Administration Building
• College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Ryan Family Student Center, 14 Deike Building
• Penn State Altoona, Student Success Center, 125G Eiche Building 
• Penn State Hazleton, Student Success Center, 203 Butler Building 
  

The Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success partners with dozens of advising and student support offices along with 32 scholarship awarding offices. It opened in 2019 and was renamed The Penn State Chaiken Center for Student Success in the summer of 2024 due to a donation from Gene and Roz Chaiken. The Chaiken Center’s primary location is in 325 Boucke Building.