Colleges respond to opioid crisis with resources, 'recovery houses'

The first time Cherise tried college, she lasted only a couple of months.

Lonely and miserable, the Rutgers University freshman turned to heroin, and quickly became addicted. She dropped out of school and after what she describes as an “intentional overdose” in 2014, wound up in a rehab facility near the campus in New Brunswick, N.J., just down the street from fraternity row.

It was there that she heard about Rutgers Recovery House, a year-round dorm where students recovering from drug and alcohol addictions can find friendship and sanctuary from the temptations of college life. 

Believing it was “meant to be,” she re-enrolled at Rutgers, and moved into the Recovery House.

“I was home,” says Cherise, who, like all the students in the house, asked that her last name not be used. Now 28, she graduated in the spring.

Almost unheard of five years ago, collegiate recovery programs

Changing attitudes toward addiction The Rutgers approachBarriers to more programs