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.
They step onto campus with clearer expectations for themselves and a more intentional approach to substance use, citing practical concerns for their reasoning around alcohol abstinence: 57% worry about interference with academic responsibilities, while 64% express health concerns. These figures have continued to increase over the past three academic years, indicating a sustained, long-lasting shift rather than a fad.
RELATED: College Students Drinking Less Alcohol, Smoking More Weed
At the same time, cannabis use has surged. Nearly half of students report using cannabis recreationally during the early fall semester weeks, compared to just 14% in 2016. Younger students show the highest usage, with 51% of those 19 and under reporting consumption within the early weeks of the fall semester. The decline of perceived risk reflects broader cultural shifts as more states legalize recreational cannabis use.
Jonathan Montemayor, an assistant professor at Texas A&M with expertise in substance research, points out a concerning behavioral pattern: increased frequency of cannabis use correlates with absenteeism, which can lead to lower academic performance and retention risks. For safety leaders, this creates a complex picture: fewer alcohol-related emergencies, but a new set of behavioral risks that campus safety teams cannot ignore.
Why College Student Behavior is Changing and Why It Matters
Student choices reflect a clear shift in what they value. They are more intentional, more aware of academic pressures, and more attuned to mental wellbeing. But, knowledge alone doesn’t always drive behavior. Students may understand the risks, but underestimate how often they may need help themselves, how influenced they may become by their environment, or how common it is for their peers to practice protective behaviors.
This presents an opportunity for campus safety leaders. When institutions help students understand that the majority share their healthy habits, it strengthens protective norms and reduces pressure to conform to outdated narratives. This means looking not just at education, but also at the broader environment: expectations, social options, physical spaces, communication patterns, and peer involvement.
What the Shift in Student Substance Use Means for College Safety, Response Planning
The first weeks of a new semester remain high-risk, but what constitutes “risk” has changed. Longstanding safety strategies built around alcohol as the primary threat may not fully account for emerging patterns, including:
- Changing patterns → Stress, social pressures, and mental health challenges often intersect with substance use. This is true even among students who abstain from alcohol.
- Misaligned messaging → Campus communications assuming that every student drinks isolate the abstainers, who make up the majority today. This messaging also fails to acknowledge realities around rising use of cannabis and other substances.
- Low confidence in peer intervention → Despite peer influence having a notable impact on campus, 31% of students report feeling unprepared to step in when a peer has had too much to drink or is using substances in ways that feel unsafe.
This creates preventable safety challenges that institutions can address through more personalized outreach and peer-led programs.
RELATED: Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use Among College Students Linked to Depression
Where College Campus Protocols Need to Modernize
This shift in student behavior displays an urgent need for more comprehensive prevention approaches that address the social, environmental, and psychological factors around substance use on campus. Below are areas where institutions can update their approach for stronger outcomes.
- Update risk messaging for accuracy and impact. Avoid generic reminders or outdated assumptions. Students respond to communication that feels supportive and connected to their lived experience. Modern messaging should acknowledge that many students abstain from drinking, cannabis use is common but not without risks, supporting peers is a shared expectation, and help is accessible. Communication that aligns with student realities is more likely to actually shape their behavior.
- Set expectations in the weeks leading up to student arrival. This time presents an opportunity for students to form intentions about their behavior before setting foot on campus. Pre-arrival modules, parent communication, orientation materials, and housing outreach can reinforce campus values, social expectations, support access, and peer norms. This sets a tone that carries into those first vulnerable weeks on campus.
- Strengthen prevention strategies around cannabis. Cannabis requires its own approach, including mental health considerations, state or federal laws, harm reduction messaging, and communication about how it can impact academic performance. Treating cannabis as an afterthought to alcohol creates blind spots that put modern students at risk.
- Provide authentic substance-free social spaces. Students still want connection, freedom, and memorable experiences. These don’t have to center around substances, but they should feel authentic and not like second-rate alternatives. Student-led programming, engaging evening and weekend events, residence hall community-building, and thoughtfully designed spaces can help normalize healthy choices.
- Build students’ confidence in supporting one another. Peer involvement is one of the strongest protective factors on campus, but students need concrete guidance on how to intervene without feeling like they’re overstepping as well as how to ask for help themselves. Skills-based learning modules that are woven into orientation, student leadership training, and residence life can make a difference.
- Align safety, wellness, and academic teams. Today’s substance use patterns cross traditional departmental boundaries. The most effective models bring together campus safety, residence life, counseling, academic support, student organizations, and health teams. This alignment helps coordinate intervention and reinforce consistent messaging.
The Opportunity Ahead for Improved Campus Safety
The decline in alcohol use and the rise in cannabis use among college students reflects a big shift in what a “typical” college experience looks like. Many students are coming to campus with healthier habits, but they’re also navigating a whole new set of risks. Safety leaders have an opportunity to build systems that reflect this new reality.
The College Effect isn’t gone, but it’s been demonstrably transforming in recent years. Instead of assuming students will pick up risky habits when they arrive, institutions must support the healthy decisions many students already make. More students stepping onto campus today are making choices that help them succeed both in and out of the classroom. The campuses that evolve with them will be leaders in creating safer, more supportive campuses for the students they serve.
Charity Stutzman is Vector Solutions‘ Senior Director of Higher Ed Strategy and former assistant director of violence prevention and student intervention at UT Arlington.
Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety.
