Sobering Statistics

Here are a few sobering statistics on how drinking too much, too often can put a serious damper on your dreams of achieving academic glory--or even your dreams of just graduating:

According to the Core Institute, an organization that surveys college drinking practices, 300,000 of today's college students will eventually die of alcohol-related causes such as drunk driving accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, various cancers and heart disease.

159,000 of today's first- year college students will drop out of school next year for alcohol- or other drug-related reasons. The average student spends about $900 on alcohol each year. Do you want to know how much cash the average student drops on his or her books? About $450.

Almost one-third of college students admit to having missed at least one class because of their alcohol or drug use, and nearly one-quarter of students report bombing a test or project because of the aftereffects of drinking or doing drugs.

One night of heavy drinking can impair your ability to think abstractly for up to 30 days, limiting your ability to relate textbook reading to what your professor says, or to think through a football play.

Here are some stone-cold sobering statistics about the college sex-and-alcohol cocktail:

As many as 70% of college students admit to having engaged in sexual activity primarily as a result of being under the influence of alcohol, or to having sex they wouldn't have had if they had been sober.

90% of all campus rapes occur when alcohol has been used by either the assailant or the victim.

At least one out of five college students abandons safe sex practices when they're drunk, even if they do protect themselves when they're sober.

One in twelve college males admit to having committed acts that meet the legal definition of rape or acquaintance rape.

55% of female students and 75% of male students involved in acquaintance rape admit to having been drinking or using drugs when the incident occurred.

60% of college women who are infected with STDs, including genital herpes and AIDS, report that they were under the influence of alcohol at the time they had intercourse with the infected person.

Female college freshman are at the highest risk for sexual assault between the first day of school and Thanksgiving break.

According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 1500 college students is HIV positive, and the fastest-growing populations of American people infected with HIV are teenagers and young adults.