EIU Illinois Higher Education Center

2026 Survey Administration

Survey distribution & collection will happen in the late winter/early spring of 2026; institutional recruitment will close by December 12, 2025.

Illinois Assessment of College Substance Use Behaviors (IACSUB) Survey

Copy of Survey

Survey Administration Checklist

Illinois Institutions Only

CURRENT STEPS:

• Register your Institution
• A letter must be on the facility’s letterhead stationery or e-mail, and should contain the following:
  • Agreement for the study to be conducted at the site (IRB paperwork as needed)
  • Identification of someone at the site who will provide information about appropriateness of the study for its population
    • This person will serve as the main point of contact for survey administration, data collection & results
  • Assurance of adequate capabilities to perform the research as approved by the IRB; and if applicable
  • Assurance that facility personnel involved in data collection have appropriate expertise and will follow IRB approved procedures.
• Send us a random student sample (names and emails) from your registrar's office.
  • We recommend a random sample of 10% of the student population at your campus
    • Excel file preferred
• Provide us with the tentative timeframe you would like to run the study (must be completed by March 30th, 2026.
  • We recommend a three-week timeframe to administer the survey. Reminder emails can be sent weekly for improved response rates.

Purpose

This survey is to determine the current incidence and prevalence of alcohol and other drug use on Illinois 2 and 4-year college campuses. Furthermore, students’ perception of others’ use; perceptions of risk related to use; beliefs regarding use; negative consequences associated with use; experiences of secondhand effects of others’ use; experiences of physical and sexual violence; and the relationship of alcohol and other drug use to campus climate issues will, also, be examined.

Background

The first administration of the Illinois Assessment of College Substance Use Behaviors Survey was completed in 2024. Data was collected in-house, cleaned, and sent to participating schools in 2025. This new survey method was adapted from our Missouri colleagues, Missouri Partners in Prevention. Their original document, the Missouri Assessment of College Health Behaviors, or MACHB, was shared with our office to modify and create our new survey tool. The new method of administration keeps all of the work in-house, allowing for more collaborative work and data reporting for the state.

The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey was administered on a statewide basis in the spring semesters of 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022.  During our 2012 administration, approximately 12,600 students at 23 Illinois institutions of higher education (16 four-year institutions and 7 two-year institutions) participated in the administration.

Moving forward, we are no longer working with CORE or utilizing the CORE survey. In place of the Core, we are administering our newly developed IACSUB survey. This survey will assess the same topics as CORE, with slight modifications. It is an adaption of the Missouri statewide survey. 

Benefits

• No cost to your institution
• Survey results are done in house, meaning quicker distribution
• Survey results will not be shared with other institutions, only you or delegated persons will receive a copy of your institution's results
• Administration will be done in early spring pending approval, will run for approximately 3 weeks.
• Survey will be distributed using the EIU Qualtrics platform
  • Surveys will take about 20 minutes to complete
• Subjects will receive a link to the survey from Qualtrics, accessible from the IHEC site with a dropdown selection for your institution

  • Survey will follow similar content to CORE, focusing on substance use, harm reduction efforts, and similar topics.

• Conducting needs assessment will help target prevention resources and make programming efforts justifiable, fundable and measurable.
• Data can also assist in defining the nature and extent of the campus alcohol and other drug problem and in identifying high-risk groups within the campus