Talbot Partnership for Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Prevention is reminding parents of students planning for college, that it is important to be involved in gathering information about colleges and universities. Specifically, it is important that parents inquire about the college or universities alcohol policies and history.  The consequences of excessive drinking by college students are more significant, more destructive, and more costly than many parents realize.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) offers a website that helps parents gather information and understand the high risk culture of drinking on college campuses. Please visit www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov as you gather information about colleges and universities and help them chose the right school that offers not only the best educational, social and athletic experience, but one that will be safe as well.

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Choosing the Right College

Like many parents, students, and administrators, you may be doing some research on colleges and universities. You’ve probably looked into:

* Academics
* Course offerings
* Athletic facilities
* Housing conditions
* School reputation

During your research, it’s essential to remember a key issue, one that influences college students’ quality of life every day: the culture of drinking at colleges in the United States.

An “Animal House” environment may seem exciting to students at first, but nothing affects health, safety, and academic performance more than a culture of excessive drinking. Many of the negative consequences associated with college alcohol abuse affect students who themselves are not drinking-and these are serious consequences: sexual assault, violence, vandalism, loss of sleep, and caring for friends and roommates in life-threatening states of alcohol poisoning.

There are a number of ways to investigate whether the schools you’re considering are taking this problem seriously. Be sure that each school has created solid alcohol policies and is enforcing underage drinking laws. Collegedrinkingprevention.gov has made it easy for you to get this information for hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States.

* Visit our College Alcohol Policies page to find an interactive map of college alcohol policies throughout the United States.
* To see college drinking-related headlines, check out our In the News page.

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Statistics provided on this web site and others like UMADD indicated that:
Academic Problems: About 25 percent of students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall

• Health Problems/Suicide Attempts: More than 150,000 develop an alcohol-related health problem