Results of a 1984 needs survey for 11,540 students at 16 campuses of The California State University (CSU) are presented, along with comparisons to a 1981 survey. Information is included on student characteristics, life and educational goals, levels of satisfaction with campus academic and social experiences; and obstacles to student retention. Variations in findings by age, ethnicity, and sex are also reported. Findings include: about 58 percent of students were from families whose household head held an upper-middle status occupation; 42 percent had fathers or household heads with a bachelor's degree or higher, while 76 percent of the Chicano respondents had fathers/heads with only a grade school or high school background; intellectual, social, and aesthetic values dominated the choice of general life goals, while career considerations were dominant among specific educational goals; academic issues related to the quality of instruction, courses, and faculty were most important to students in achieving their educational goals; for the majority of students, either non-campus related obstacles or no obstacles stood in the way of completing their education; and fewer than 10 percent cited academic or institutional shortcomings as major reasons for leaving a CSU campus. The study questionnaire is appended. (SW)