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(Campus Safety) When the first wave of students arrives on campus each fall, college safety and student affairs professionals brace for what has historically been the most vulnerable period for alcohol-related incidents. This pattern was so predictable it earned a name – the College Effect: the belief that the norms of campus life naturally drive high-risk drinking.
However, new data from over 830,000 college students across more than 700 institutions shows a new and different reality. Today’s students are rewriting long-held assumptions about substances and the role campus environments play in shaping their behavior. The shifts are large and consistent enough that colleges need to rethink how they approach prevention, intervention, and support services.
What’s emerging is a shifting behavioral landscape, one that reflects more than just a drop in student drinking. It has direct implications for safety planning, staffing models, student support, and risk management.
Understanding the Changes Around Alcohol and Substance Use
These national findings show that alcohol abstinence (i.e., no drinking in the past year) among college students has more than doubled since 2016, rising from 34% to 68%. Among students age 19 and under, abstinence reaches 71%. This also reflects a larger national trend: alcohol use among 12th graders has seen a significant decline in recent years from 75% in 1997 to 42% in 2024, indicating that more students are arriving at college with personal norms and assumptions regarding substance use already established.