Problem/Objective: There is little information on smoking cessation programs for young adults (18 to 24 years). Smoking rates among postsecondary students remains high at approximately 30% for any use in the past 30 days. Among student smokers, the mean number of quit attempts is approximately 3.2 attempts in the past 12 months. In addition, few students have expressed interest in using traditional smoking cessation counseling or phone counseling.

Methods: With funding through Hennepin Medical Society and BlueCross and BlueShield of Minnesota, Quit & Win has been conducted with 14 post secondary institutions and approximately 1800 students, staff and faculty members.

Results: One-month follow-up surveys indicate quit rates around 50%. The 6-month quit rate data will be made available at the conference. Other unexpected results were: 1) almost 50% of participants reported that one or more of their friends attempted to quit smoking as a result of the participants involvement with Quit and Win; 2) 75% of participants took the free month supply of NRT (patch or gum) when they signed up; and 3) 40% of participants reported a change in the rules about smoking in the place where they live as a result of their participation in the contest.

Conclusions: Quit & Win is a successful cessation program for college students. Further exploration of it's components and implementation on college campuses will help enlighten the tobacco control community on cessation services for college students.