Background: Risky sexual behavior accounts for a large number of opportunities for acquiringrnHIV infection and other STIs. Students of higher learning institutions are with multiple socioculturalrnbackgroundsrnandrnbeginrnindependentrnlifernatrnyoungerrnage.rnrnrnMethods:rnrnA cross-sectional study was conducted among 588 randomly selected undergraduaternstudents from private universities in Addis Ababa, from December 2018 to October 2019. Studyrnparticipants were selected using multi stage stratified sampling technique. Interviewer administerrnpretested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was entered into Epi-datarnversion 4.4.2.1 then exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Descriptive analysis (Frequency,rnmean, and proportion) and regression analysis was done to summarize findings. rnResults: Overall, 32.6% of study participants started sexual intercourse at the time of study. Thernmedian age at first sexual intercourse was 18.3. About 66.7% of respondents were engaged in riskyrnsexual behavior in their life time. Students who attended their high school education at privaternschools (AOR=3.160; 95% CI= 1.406, 7.103), first age at sex (AOR = 0.075; 95% CI = 0.030,rn0.190), and condom use at first-time sexual intercourse (AOR = 5.594; 95% CI = 2.223, 14.076)rnwere significantly associated with risky sexual behavior.rnConclusions:rnThe finding of this study identified that significant numbers of students engaged in risky sexualrnbehaviors by having multiple sexual partner and inconsistence/non-use of condom in their liferntime. Therefore, understanding factors associated with risky sexual behavior is important forrnimplementing comprehensive interventions and prevent multiple risk factors among privaternuniversity students.