In this paper we investigate the causal effect of schooling on health behavior by exploiting a natural experiment in Western Germany. During the 1960’s and 1970’s German states pursued policies to increase the share of young Germans obtaining a university entrance diploma (Abitur) in academic track schools, but the timing of the educational expansion differed between states. This introduces exogenous variation in the accessibility of higher education which in turn affects individuals’ schooling choices. Using as instruments the number of academic track schools and the state-cohort proportion of individuals attaining the university entrance diploma, we find no causal effects of schooling on smoking behavior, and weak effects on weight problems.