<p>So I've been lurking for a while now . . . One and only child (D) is a HS senior this year. The whole going off to college thing still seems like make-believe but she has a handful of acceptances already so I guess she's really going to go!</p>
<p>My reason for posting is to inquire about what other people's experiences have been with substance-free housing. My D's current top-choice takes what seems to me to be a very minimal approach to providing this--a few rooms scattered here and there but no dorm or even floor dedicated to housing students who want to live in a substance-free environment. </p>
<p>Am I expecting too much to think that a college would do more to encourage substance-free students?</p>
<p>Oh, substance free housing is a joke. (It may not be at all schools but was as mine.) You get a lot of kids who want to drink, party, and use substances - but don’t want to live with others who do that kind of thing. You get people that are crack addicts and are now trying to get away from it but are smoking because it is the lesser of the two evils.</p>
<p>I lived on a no-alcohol floor, and probably 50% of the students had beer in their fridges.</p>
<p>I should maybe add that what is appealing to D about substance-free housing is not only (or even mostly) avoiding alcohol or other drugs but connecting with people who have similar interests. D is not morally or otherwise opposed to people drinking but she is very shy and cannot see herself making friends through the party scene.</p>
<p>Sometimes parents insist that their kids be in substance-free housing - even if the kid doesn’t want to be in one…I think that is what causes alcohol to be found in such dorms.</p>
<p>I didn’t drink or go to parties until a bit after I turned 21 and didn’t have any problems meeting people throughout college. Freshman year I was friends with all of the guys on my hall, and when Friday night rolled around we’d usually break up into two groups. Half of us would go into someone’s room at one end of the hall and play board games, watch movies, watch TV, play video games, or go out somewhere if the weather was nice enough (I was in Pittsburgh, so it could be a rare event :p). The other half of the hall would drink and do similar things. When Saturday afternoon rolled around again we had no problems hanging out and doing things as a group.</p>
<p>Your D will find her group of people regardless of the people on the floor.</p>
<p>I was a spotless clean kid in high school and found a clean group of friends in college. Then I discovered some of the ones that weren’t straight and narrow were a lot of fun to be with (since they didn’t drink all the time) and spent a lot of time with them as well. I didn’t hang out with drug users, that would have crossed my line.</p>
<p>Amesie, my daughter’s school does not have substance-free housing and it has been fine. She was not a partier in high school and was nervous about the presence of alcohol etc. in the dorms. If your D seeks out events/activities/clubs she will find other like minded individuals- probably more so than if she sticks to the dorm.</p>
<p>I think most colleges do try to implement programs to minimize student drinking, but it’s as successful as if they tried to get students to stop having casual hookups. It’s fighting a losing battle. Some kids will avoid drinking (or will drink moderately), but some will still drink excessively.</p>