Choosing the Right College: Alcohol Policies

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.