CVS and the American Cancer Society have awarded grants to 20 colleges and universities to implement smoke-free policies on campus.
It's the first round of awards in a campaign that will distribute a total of $3.6 million to 125 colleges and universities over the next three years.
The effort is part of a five-year, $50 million campaign to stop young people from smoking.
In 2014, CVS stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco products at 7,600 stores. The sale of cigarettes generated more than $2 billion in annual sales for CVS.
"I think that we recognize that just taking tobacco out of stores is something that's important but something that could be built on,” said Dr. Troy Brennan, CVS's chief medical officer.
Currently around 10% of the more than 4,700 U.S. campuses are smoke free, according to the American Lung Association.
Nearly 5 million middle-and high school student were tobacco users in 2015, according to the HHS, but smoking among youth has been steadily declining for more than a decade. The rate among high school seniors fell from 25% in 1997 to just 6% in 2014.
The next round of CVS grants will be announced in May.
Correction, Nov. 17, 2015:
This story has been revised to correct several inaccuracies. Modern Healthcare regrets the errors.
