Books and Booze
Numerous studies have focused on the telling relationship between high-risk drinking and academics.
According to the Higher Education Center:
- College students who are in high academic standing drink less in almost all contexts that their peers who are in low academic standing.
- First-year students admitted on probation consume more than first-year students in good academic standing.
- College officials believe that alcohol is a factor in over 40 percent of all academic problems and 25 percent of drop-outs.
Core Institute surveys established the following:
- 20 percent of students responding to national surveys report they have done poorly on a test because of alcohol and drug use.
- 30 percent of student respondents in the nation reported they had missed a class during the past 12 months because of drinking and/or drug use.
- Among frequent binge drinkers completing the Core Survey (i.e., students who consumed 5 or more drinks on three or more occasions during the past week), 46 percent had fallen behind in school and over 60 percent had missed a class because of drinking.
Harvard’s College Alcohol Survey finds that students with below average grades drink three times as much as college students with a 4.0 grade point average.
The bottom line is that high-risk alcohol use can jeopardize both student learning and the institutional mission.