NDSU's Back on TRAC Program: Policy Recommendations
Abstract
Alcohol and other drug use by college students has been considered by
college administrators to be problematic for many years, but strategies in place were
not effective or were being under-utilized. Data taken from both the NDSU CORE
Survey on Alcohol and Other Drug Use as well as the national CORE survey
indicate that many students use alcohol as their drug of choice; 71 % of those
surveyed reported using alcohol within the 30 days prior to survey administration.
In 2006, North Dakota State University was selected as a pilot institution for
the Back on TRAC program. Back on TRAC utilizes a holistic approach based on
the drug court model and public health and combines this approach with rewards and
sanctions for compliance with program requirements to provide treatment for
substance abuse to college students. The program was implemented in 2008, and
since then, 8 students have participated in Back on TRAC at NDSU.
Based on the Back on TRAC program used at NDSU, three recommendations
have been made to increase the provision of services to program participants. These
recommendations were developed using information collected about the program
currently in place at NDSU, as well as information collected about the Back on
TRAC program at Colorado State University, Oklahoma State University, and Texas
A&M.