College is a major risk period for binge drinking and the development of substance abuse problems, and parents and prospective students should examine the drug and alcohol policies of a prospective school carefully before committing to four years of temptation.
As much as school administrators try to minimize the negative repercussions of a "party school" reputation, there is a statistical correlation between greater rates of alcohol and drug abuse and dependencies at these so called party schools than at other comparable colleges.
Substance abuse in college
College alcohol and drug abuse is a pretty big problem, and the percentage of alcohol and drug abusing people at colleges statistically exceeds the levels of abuse in non academic environments. There are a number of factors that contribute to increasing substance use and abuse during the formative transitional years out of the family home through college, but one of these is certainly a persistent collegiate culture which promotes binge drinking and recreational drug abuse.
With as many as 33% (Harvard medical school reporting) of college students meeting the criteria for substance abuse, and a significant percentage of these students meeting the more serious criteria for alcohol or drug dependence, addictions professionals acknowledge that college substance use represents a significant challenge to health.
When Choosing A College…
While the Princeton Review rankings are unlikely accurate, parents and concerned students can enhance safety from abuse and from the negative behaviors of other abusing students by enrolling in schools with sound alcohol policies, and alcohol free residential areas.
College is an exciting, stressful and experimental period, and the corresponding risks of abuse and dependence during these years are tragically high. Choosing a lower risk facility may be a wise choice for students worried about social environments conducive to destructive substance use and abuse.
The University of Georgia should be commended for its efforts to limit the destruction of substance abuse within its campuses, and the University of Colorado at Boulder deserves ridicule for its transparent press release reaction to a persistent problem. With too many deaths, and tens of thousands of addictions developing each year at party colleges across the country, fundamental and institutional change is required to increase the safety of a transitional four year period into adulthood.
page last update Dec 12, 2011
