The College Perspective by Lindsey

Students cram into a white, two-story house, rap music blaring from the speakers. In the kitchen there’s an intense beer pong match, people are crammed onto couches nearby, talking and drinking. Downstairs the music is even louder. A girl carrying a bottle of Jägermeister yells “Shots? Shots?” at anyone who comes near her. A group of very drunk girls tries their hardest to take a picture with their arms around each other’s waists while all of them lean dangerously close to falling on top of each other. One girl chugs an entire bottle of Smirnoff surrounded by people cheering her on.

Sound familiar?

According to recent reports, around 4 out of 5 college students abuse alcohol. Students arrested each year for alcohol-related violations can reach up to 110,000. Besides that, 1,825 students on average die each year from alcohol-related injuries.

For most students, especially in small towns across Iowa where there isn’t much else to do, drinking starts in high school. Even though binge drinking is on the decline, many middle to lower class students still struggle with excessive drinking versus their wealthier counterparts. It becomes more and more common once they go on to college.

For people like Austin Norton, college is the first time they come into contact with alcohol at all. He says, “I really wasn’t against drinking, I just never had the opportunity in high school. I was a nerd. People just had booze and I went for it.”

It’s unclear why heavy drinking is so common for college students, but Norton believes it has to do with social interaction. He says, “Some people are just alcoholics, but I would say it’s mostly trying to fit in and it’s a social crutch essentially, though it’s a lot less common nowadays. There’s just a general better understanding. As a culture, we’re more appreciative of the detrimental effect of alcohol and drugs. And as far as social crutches go we have our phones now so I’m sure that helps.”

On the other hand, even students at larger schools don’t even drink, despite ample opportunities. Lauryn Feauto is one such student who attends Iowa State University. She says, “I personally just don’t have any interest in drinking and possibly not being in control of myself. Plus, I have an underlying feeling that I could quickly become an alcoholic due to an addictive personality.”

Feauto also believes that people who drink excessively often do because they are free from the control of their parents.

No matter what the current drinking trends are, one thing is certain: binge drinking diminishes for most people after college.

Norton believes it’s simply because of the change in lifestyle. He says, “It’s partly getting older. It’s hard to keep up with that lifestyle. There isn’t room in your life for it with family and work.”

Feauto agrees, saying “We get busy and it gets expensive.”

Whether we get better with social interaction or there’s simply no time in the “adult” world, drinking will probably always be a facet of college culture in America.