Student Health Program receives more than $500,000 grant for student assessment on alcohol and drug use

More than 2,500 colleges have paid 25 percent per copy to assess the students at their institutions on alcohol and drug use through the Core Institute:Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies at SIUC.

But a select group of institutions will not have to pay a dime and even grant a student participant who filled out the Core Institute survey with a $500 scholarship under a new federal grant SIUC Student Health Programs received this year for its program.

Advertisement

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education within the U.S. Department of Education granted the Student Health Programs $562,285 to expand, revise and offer a national probability Core Institute survey to a group of colleges.

The survey differs from past Core Institute surveys in its offering and research analysis of two-year institutions, its inclusion of violence patterns and alcohol use among students and its free price.

Cheryl Presley, director of Student Health Programs, said this study is more specific for these reasons, but also expands on past Core Institute alcohol surveys.

In 1989, the government passed a regulation that universities across the country needed to look into alcohol and drug problems on their campuses and produce responsible programs based on their students’ needs. The Core Institute developed to allow for SIUC and other institutions to assess their students and begin to provide those programs based on the results.

“We thought only 90 institutions would use it [survey], but it was machine scoreable and inexpensive,” Presley said. “[The government] required to do some kind of assessment on their campus, and a lot of people were having to break the bank.”

Through grants and increased interest, the Core Institute grew from the original 90 to 2,500 institutions and assessed about 2 million students.

Similar to other surveys through the Core Institute, this national probability survey will randomly compile a national assessment and allow other colleges to, if they prefer, compare themselves to other institutions.

Advertisement*

Presley said another exciting aspect about this grant is it was only given to SIUC to help expand its alcohol and drug assessment.

“That’s really an honor since they have other options such as Harvard or University of Michigan,” she said.

According to Presley, the Core Institute may not offer this survey next year because of the grant contract. The regular survey can still be purchased as well as the other services offered.

“We get together with state schools and see if they are doing their survey methodology the same way,” she said.

Through similar assessments, other universities have developed programs through survey information. The University of Connecticut is one institution that has developed such programs to assist students in alcohol behaviors.

According to the University’s website and Heart Program, dedicated to counseling students in a variety of areas, the institution provides group counseling, mediations with alcoholic students and their concerned friends and a special group for adult children of alcoholics.

Ken Culton, coordinator and clinical counselor for SIUC Alcohol and Other Drugs program, said a similar program for adult children of alcoholics is highly used on campus and one group, he thinks, that has helped students at SIUC.

“They come to university, feeling they have escaped that environment, bringing with them emotional baggage,” Culton said. “If they are not addressed, it could affect grades and relationships and some drink a lot, while others remain sober.”

Culton said they try to promote healthy lifestyles through social “norming,” or letting students know that not all students drink and campus drinking myths. He said the Alcohol and Other Drug program has targeted those areas of SIUC in which students’ behaviors need the most attention.

“The research can show who to target and where to put your resources,” he said. “It helps the institution, but helps individual students.”

Reporter Samantha Edmondson can be reached at [email protected]