Background: Emergency contraception refers to type of contraception that is used as anrnemergency procedure to prevent unintended pregnancy following an unprotected act of sexualrnintercourse. Every year, unintended pregnancies lead to at least 20 million unsafe abortions,rnresulting in the death of some 80,000 women. There is low utilization of emergencyrncontraception, while awareness is relatively high.rnObjective: To assess level of awareness, attitude and utilization of emergency contraceptionrnand factors influencing knowledge, attitude and practice.rnMethods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on February 2007. There were a total ofrn2167 female students in 10 colleges in Asella town. Eight hundred thirty three of them werernsampled for the study. Self administered questionnaire and in-depth interview was used torncollect data.rnResult: The magnitude of sexual violence was as high as 47.9% and unwanted pregnancy wasrn16.9% for those who practiced sex. From 833 respondents 228 (27.4%) have knowledge aboutrnemergency contraception; Correct timing of emergency contraception was reported only by 82rn(9.8%) and 20 (2.4%) of them had ever used emergency contraception. Oral contraceptive pillrnwas the most widely used 13 (65.0%). Health professionals were main source of informationrn126 (55.3%), but some of the health workers have no in-service training on emergencyrncontraception. About 548 (65.8%) of the respondents had favorable attitude towards the use ofrnemergency contraception. All of the health institutions were not providing family planning orrnemergency contraception services for college students, beside the clinics in the college had nornfamily planning program.rnConclusion: There is high sexual violence & sexual harassment (high rate of unintended sex);rnlow awareness, knowledge and utilization of emergency contraceptives among college femalernstudents and no favorable access to the service. Hence there is a need for collaborated effort tornimprove service quality and prevent female students/women from life threatening behaviors