First-year sociology students grilled MSPs during a referendum debate at Abertay University in Dundee.
Shona Robison of the SNP joined Patrick Harvie of the Greens for Yes, while Jenny Marra (Labour) and Alex Johnstone (Conservative) appeared for No.
Debate chairman Dr Wallace McNeish opened by asking students to vote using an electronic button, yielding 53% Yes, 33% No and 14% undecided.
Ms Robison said: “Scotland is a wealthy nation, but it’s what we do with that wealth that counts.”
Mr Johnstone claimed Scotland gets more out of the union, financially, than it contributes.
He said: “I believe that the UK is the strongest economic and social union the world has ever seen.”
Questions came on the future of the NHS, tuition fees, the campaign and voting rights for 16-year-olds.
Drawing applause from the largely teenage crowd, Mr Harvie acknowledged each side can bend figures to suit their own agendas.
He apologised for his generation “failing them so badly”, but urged them to look beyond Scotland.
“We should be voting Yes as a catalyst for the kind of dramatic renewal that the rest of these islands have been waiting for,” he said.
Ms Marra highlighted Labour successes and, when asked for a “progressive reason” for voting No, pointed to ambitions to end youth unemployment.
She said it was hard to accept SNP plans to charge tuition fees to UK students in an independent Scotland.
“We have always been an outward-looking country and have always joined hands with people of other nations to achieve that,” she said.
A second electronic poll was taken at the close, showing 66% Yes, 33% No and 1% undecided,
Abertay student president Robyn Donaghue said: “It’s really exciting to see so many young people engaged in politics.
“People are asking questions about living, studying and working in Scotland and the UK that’s what it should be about.”