The authors show the problems of elderly people as they are perceived by university students.

Material and methods. 957 students from universities in Szczecin and Koszalin, aged from 25 to 30, of both sexes, including 500 women and 457 men, were asked to participate in the survey. The research included collecting information using the previously prepared original questionnaire. The information was analyzed by means of digital computers. Statistical dependencies were assessed by means of Chi² test, at the confidence level of p≤0.05.

Results. A systematic increase in the number of people reaching the retirement age leads to undertaking the following necessary measures:

- social, material and medical problems of those people must be taken into consideration in regional and family policies;

- problems of the elderly should be taken into account in educational processes;

- the late transitional stage of the aging process as a period preparing a person to old age must be discussed;

- reaching young people (children and the youth), educating them about respect and about providing willing assistance to the weaker members of the society is important.

The subject matter of the paper constitutes a diagnostic survey on the image of the old person in the eyes of young people (students). What dostudents know about old people, how do they perceive such people and what is their awareness of the problems faced by the elderly? Are they prepared and willing to provide help?

Conclusions. The research conducted among the students revealed that the respondents think that old people should spend last years of their life living with their own family.

The students’ opinions about the image of old people varied: female students were considerably more often interested in problems of the elderly than male students. Female students also more often than male ones think about their old age and would like to reach an advanced old age.

According to the respondents, the most important problems of the old age are financial and health problems. The students, and especially female ones, indicated relatively few opportunities of obtaining institutional care by the elderly.