In Japan, not many people exercise habitually. Physical education (PE) in universities would be expected to contribute to the development of active lifestyles by facilitating lifelong habits of exercise and sports. This study extracted the perceived benefits of PE in universities using text mining. A questionnaire survey was conducted among university freshmen ( N =989, men=656, women=331). The questionnaire inquired about basic attributes, including sex, age, and exercise habits, and requested free descriptions about the perceived benefits of PE at universities. The mean age of the participants was 19.1 years. The results indicated that approximately 30% exercised regularly. Words that appeared frequently in free descriptions regarding the perceived benefits of PE in universities were analyzed using morphological analysis, and 18 keywords were identified, including “make or can,” “friends,” and “enjoyable”. Based on these keywords, the following 10 categories of perceived benefits of exercise were extracted: formation and development of friendship, an increase in the frequency of exercise, feeling of enjoyment, increase in physical strength, improvement in communication skills, improvement in life habits, attaining and improving movement skills, understanding exercise methods and rules, understanding the importance of team play, and stress reduction. Furthermore, differences based on sex, as well as sport and exercise habits, were also examined. The results indicated that the frequency of the following categories was higher in women than in men: formation and development of friendship and a feeling of enjoyment. Students without regular exercise habits indicated a higher frequency of “increase in the frequency of taking exercise,” compared to those with exercise habits. The above results suggest the need for planning and enforcing PE programs in universities, as this would seem to promote lifelong exercise habits and participation in sport. Furthermore, perceived benefits of PE in universities should be complemented and increased, according to sex and individual exercise habits. Moreover, students should be taught the importance of exercise and sports. In the future, it will be important to examine the perceived benefits of exercise by matching the benefits with the purpose and contents of PE, and to examine the continuity of the perceived benefits, as well as investigating deep-level perceived benefits.