Freshmen and sophomore college students are accustomed to their parents determining when medical appointments are needed. Additionally, students may not differentiate between available sources of accurate and unreliable medical advice. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes occurred in students' self-care knowledge and attitudes after peer-led self-care presentations in the residence halls at a small Midwestern university. A 9-item survey was developed, pilot tested, and refined based on the Mayo Clinic's Guide to Self-Care during the fall semester of 2004. A pre-test/post-test survey was administered during spring semester 2005 to 521 students living in the residence halls. These residents voluntarily attended the 50-minute peer-led sessions with topics that included managing common health problems and when to contact a health care provider. All self-care presentations were given between February-March 2005. After the intervention, the following changes were noted on the post-test: +40.2% of respondents indicated they would be more likely to research their symptom(s) before making an appointment, +48.0% noted that they would use a self-care book for answers to their self-care questions in the next three months, +21.2% would prepare questions about their condition to ask their health care provider, and +19.9% would have a 1-sentence description ready to explain their condition to their health care provider. Additionally, on the post-test, +28.8% of students believed they knew when to contact a health care provider, and +13.2% indicated they felt they were a partner with their health care provider. Self-care education is needed in the formative years to prepare students to identify, understand, and handle their common health care problems. Further research on student self-care behaviors is suggested.Keyword(s): college level issues, health promotion, wellness/disease prevention