Objective: To identify the degree of social responsibility in the students of a public university. Method: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. He used the Socially Responsible Behavior Self-Assignment Questionnaire and a data collection form. The sample was 432 students. Non-probabilistic sampling stratified by the vocational school. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used with non-parametric tests. Statistical analysis with SPSS v17.0. Results: Of the sample studied, 46 students (10.6 %) presented socially responsible behavior. It was found Low degree of social responsibility in 89.4 %. The self-attribution of frequency of socially responsible behavior was obtained in 31.3 % highlighting the social coexistence subscale. The self-attribution of intention in the 26.9 % emphasizing the subscale of Ecology. The high degree of social responsibility was found in younger students 19.52 ± 2.03. The social responsibility was greater in the female sex, the professional area of the letters and in which they referred the greater academic performance. Conclusions: The degree of social responsibility in the university population of the study with more frequency of low degree. Frequency self-attribution is greater in the social coexistence subscale. The self-attribution of intention is greater in the subscale of Ecology. We found an association with age, academic achievement, professional school of education, and cognitive factors in the area of letters.