Intake of dairy products in a population of 420 college students from 4 universities of Medellin city, Colombia, was evaluated to determine consumption preferences and knowledge through a personal interview. Analysis of the data using the multivariate technique MANOVA with canonical orthogonal contrast was performed using the statistical package SAS version 9.0. 80.7% of the students consumed milk, with a highly significant difference in the frequency of consumption among socioeconomic levels, being the highest consumption at the highest level. A significant difference in milk consumption according to gender was found, with a higher consumption by men. Milk ranks fifth as favorite beverage (6.1%), behind juice, water, soft drink and aromatic drinks. Cost (28.3%) and taste (20.9%) were the main reasons for non-consumption of dairy milk.