The article describes the socializing potential of state symbols in terms of impact on modern stu­dents' axiosphere. The importance of official and unofficial symbols in the formation and consolidation of stu­dents' societal identity, based on the analysis results of the authors' empirical research (Penza, the Volga region, Russia, 2014), is identified. The degree of popularity of official and unofficial state symbols in the student envi­ronment is shown. The relation to the symbolic historical events, government leaders and generals, and the most important architectural and sculptural monuments, symbolizing the achievements of the Russian state is analyzed. Strengthening of "symbolic unity" of the student community at the present development of the Rus­sian society, as well as the impact of gender and religiosity on the symbolic preferences of the respondents are displayed. The authors carried out a deliberate demarcation between official and unofficial symbolic phenome­na, which are the carriers of the Russian state values. We proceed from the fact that, if the first ones mark values already developed by the personality, and appeal to them, the latter have a wider range of functions, the very communion of the individual to the societal values, a value transmission being an example. The integration of a number of Soviet symbols into the system of modern official state symbols is positively perceived by the young people, ant it affects the symbolic unity of the society. A particular attention is paid to the potential of symbolic phenomena, which, along with the official state symbols, promote the formation of citizenship and patriotism of modern Russian students. The results of the mass survey partially confirm the lack of correlation between the significance of official and unofficial state symbols for students and their active advertising in the media envi­ronment. At the same time, the existence of the relationship between art propagation of a symbol (symbolic figure), and its influence on the formation of citizenship and patriotism, are revealed. According to the authors, in conditions of further pluralism of information influence on the society, the state symbols are an important factor in the formation of civic identity and consolidation of the youth axiosphere.