Third time college applicant parent. Our next kiddo thinks CU Boulder could tick a lot of boxes environmentally, academically and athletically. But, our older kiddos are telling her that CU Boulder is full of cocaine. Is that an exaggeration?? (I hope?!) We know that drugs are part of college life at many schools, but the stories from CU B seem to be significant. Input?
I might ask, short of a BYU type, where arenāt they ? But thatās kid by kid in how they act.
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IMO, no.
Marijuana is legal in Colorado but you have to be 21 to buy it, and smoking is not allowed on the Boulder Campus or in the dorms, so you almost have to go off campus to partake (yes, Iām sure there are those who smoke in their dorms but they risk being expelled.
Coach Prime complained this week that he doesnāt like the smell of MJ during the 2nd quarter at games. Well, those arenāt just students and since a beer costs $15, many people bring pot to the games as it is easier to sneak in than alcohol. NO DIFFERENT than when I was a student many hundreds of years ago.
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My older kids seem to think it is outside the normal college experience. I acknowledge that it is all over every campus. But there seems to be a perception, at least in our east coast area, that CU Boulder has a significant amount of cocaine consumption.
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I know they had at both my kids schools - at least as the kids told us - a large and mid size public in the south.
I think, in society, where thereās money, thereās covaine. There was just a story how the water around Nantucket is loaded with levels of it.
It is interesting, the comment from @twoinanddone - my daughter works in a charter school in CO and wasnāt drug tested. Why I asked ? Because Marijuana is legal.
At Syracuse, I stumbled in a desk drawer on a huge bag of something - we thought Coke.that was 32-3 years ago, of course.
CU is a higher priced school so no doubt thereās a lot of wealth.
But I think itās a kid by kid thing. Your kid can easily avoid it. Iām sure most do, in fact.
Iām not sure Iād use that as a school eliminator - but thatās me. Iām not you, of course.
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I just read that article about the Nantucket sewerage analysisā¦not AT ALL surprising. I just keep hearing about how awesome the outdoor activities are etc at CU Boulder, and then my older kids taint it with anecdotes about coke ragers, people being out of control etcā¦so I want to make sure we are giving it a fair shot.
I think they are amazing at CU. Not as amazing as at Utah, depending on the discipline - like if itās a skiier.
I think a school like CU has everyone - replace it with - UCLA or Kansas or Umass - Iām not sure you get a different result.
That said, hereās some 3rd party data and a survey - lots of āwealthy kidā schools - this one is reefer madness. But yeah, it seems Colorado shows up on lists. Does that mean a high percentage are doing? Maybe talk to a student ambassador.
If you found ālikeā schools - nature oriented, you may find similar.
Both my kids applied, as an aside other than cost being too high, Iād have no issue having sent either
The Colleges with the Highest Rates of Drug Violations and Arrests - Oxford Treatment Center
Colleges with Reefer Madness | The Princeton Review
Student Drug Use and Misuse in College | BestColleges
University of Colorado students rattled by apparent drug contamination scare - CBS Colorado
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Our school sends a number of kids to Boulder each year. Iāve never heard of this. Iām sure there are some over-the-top parties, like there are everywhere, but itās not what we have picked up to be the pervading feel on campus, much less linked to cocaine. In fact what we hear time and again is that if you are not into the outdoors you may not fit in there as easily as so many people are outdoorsy. That there is a āparty crowdā too, but thatās itās easy to avoid if youāre not into that.
As also alluded to above, itās presumably a rich kid thing. I guess you know your teen, but this is not something that would concern me unless I had a very easily swayed kid, and even so Iād be more concerned about alcohol which is likely far more widespread and abused (on campuses across the country).
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I just asked my daughter, who is a junior at CU, if there are more serious drugs like cocaine at CU than at similar schools. She has lots of friends at big schools, all over the midwest, a bunch in California, and a few on the East Coast. Her answer was a quick yes. She said cocaine is definitely at all of her friendsā schools, but itās āmore here.ā Sheās not sure why, but I suspect what others have mentioned ā early adoption of weed in CO, combined with a wealthy OOS population ā contributes to it. That being said, she says it is easily avoidable, and she canāt imagine that anyone would not apply to CU for that reason. A lot of the cocaine stories come from frat parties, for example, but less than 20% of CU students are part of Greek life. Our daughter is a huge fan of big parties but ācoke ragers?ā Nope. (And yes, sheās extremely open with me, even when I ask her nicely to think before she tells me something, if this is a āmom storyā or a āfriend story.ā 
)
Weed, though, is everywhere and seems much less avoidable. Then again, I live in Chicago and canāt walk 3 blocks from my house without smelling it. Wherever itās legal, it seems to be quite pervasive.
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Thanks, this is super helpful. I am sure I am being paranoid, but we arenāt from CO, so the inside perspective is super helpful. Also have the same kind of relationship with my kids, and have to work on ājudgeyā face when they unexpectedly tell me something wild! Because this is our youngest kiddo, she is getting A LOT of input from older siblings and I am trying to parse out what is anecdotal and what is more factual.
Colorado seems a wonderful place to liveā¦forgetting the schoolā¦.just in generalā¦.but is pricey. Not California priceyā¦.but pricey. Iām impressed each time I visit my daughter and was impressed by the Boulder campus.
Hopefully you can visit, talk to kids on the quad, etc.
But if itās the outdoors you like, there are other schools - namely Utah, but also Colorado State, and smaller publics. Even UNM. Utah will be closer to nature (especially skiing) and the party vibe will be less so. But yes, itās a very different type of area.
I guess, in the end, you have to hope your kids make good decisions - and thatās no different wherever you go.
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At our CA high school, CU has a reputation as a party school for wealthy kids. If you want the outdoor activities at a lower price you can go to Utah (which is not a party school).
A friendās D who went there had someone attempt to spike her drink with drugs at a party a few weeks after starting her freshman year. Fortunately she realized before passing out. And she still had a fun sorority experience for the rest of her time there.
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Though there are some issues with this at CU Boulder (more so than at other campuses)- I do not think that it is a big enough issue that would worry me if my D26 decides to go there. This is part of the party scene- not a daily- in between classes type of issue.
(Weed is another story 
)
Like most things- figure out which party scenes fit you and avoid the ones that donāt.
We are from the area- on average 80+ students from our high school enroll here every year. Not once have I heard parents (even the pearl clutchers) say ābut what about the cocaine problem!ā
Unless your youngest has some previous issues that would make being in this environment a bit too tempting- then this should not (IMO) be the make or break it for this school.
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My daughterās friend first year had a drinked spike at Charleston and from what my daughter has strongly inferred, was assaulted and might not have remembered. I know the student was absent for weeks afterward.
You can be at Harvard - I donāt care. Everyone has to be careful - and not drink if they donāt know where their drink came from and watched it all along.
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Iām a Colorado resident, and our HS sends probably 1/3 of each graduating class to Boulder. My kids didnāt/wonāt go (too big, too close), but Iām pretty familiar with it. Yes, itās a party school ā if you want it to be. There are absolutely drugs and alcohol if people seek them out (pot is legal and readily available, and I suppose people find the harder stuff through other means). Iāve not heard anyone referring specifically to cocaine when discussing CUās party scene, but Iām sure itās around.
So itās not a dry or drug-free campus (there arenāt many of those). But if youāre not interested in that scene, you can find your people and stay away from it. I know lots of kids whoāve gone there who are likely to stay away from it (most of it, anyway), and I suspect that your kid can find like-minded students if they want to. Just like itās easy to spend your nights and weekends partying, itās equally easy to throw yourself into classes and find clubs and other activities that attract kids who donāt want that.
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Thank you, having the local input is really helpful. Our kid is an athlete, no previous issues with drugs or alcohol, but our other kids have experimented with drinking and smoking college. My older kids just seemed to imply that there was more than the average amount of cocaine at Boulder. So Iām just glad to hear that itās normal college stuff with weed and booze for the most part. Really appreciate the feedback.
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The thing with drugs at CU is that I think there is a lot of wealth flashing and thatās part of it. Itās easy to avoid if itās not your scene. For the CO experience without the flashy parties and drugs, take a look at Colorado State. It has a very different laid-back, you canāt tell who has money, feel.
S23 goes to CSU and says there is a big difference in drug use. Not that there arenāt drugs at CSU, but itās not a huge part of the party scene. My niece goes to CU and has never had any issues with drugs. Her crowd just doesnāt partake and isnāt around it much. With 37,000 students, there are plenty of people that arenāt part of that scene.
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Take it with a grain of salt. I doubt there are any more drugs at Boulder than any other school its size.
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At one of the off-campus fraternities at CU Boulder?
Frosh year is the time when people are most vulnerable to this kind of thing, because they may not realize that is what sexual predators do.
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Gordie Bailey story: How fraternities continue to thrive after pledges die gives some of the history on why most of the fraternities at CU Boulder are not associated with or recognized by the campus.