• Each year 1,400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, and 500,000 more are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol.1

• Research has shown that college students who binge drink are more likely to suffer a variety of negative or even life-threatening events than those who don’t drink heavily or at all. These problems include academic failure, accidents that cause injury or death, assaults and fights, illegal activities such as vandalism or drunk driving, unprotected or forced sexual activity, suicide, and health problems.2

• More than 600,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking, and more than 70,000 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.3

• The availability of large volumes of alcohol (e.g., 24- and 30-can cases of beer, party balls, and kegs), low prices, and frequent promotions and advertising in alcohol outlets around college campuses are all associated with higher binge drinking there.4

• College drinkers have 12 or more drinks on 10 percent of drinking occasions, while male college drinker have 12 or more drinks on 20 percent of these occasions.5

• The binge drinking rates of White, male, and underage students were significantly lower in schools that had more minority, female, and older students. Students who do not binge drink in high school are more likely to start binge drinking at colleges with fewer minority and older students.6

1) Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24. (Hingson RW, Heeren T, Zakocs RC, Kopstein A, Wechsler H. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2002)

2) A “binge” is defined as five drinks or more in a row for a man, and four drinks for a woman. A “drink” is a 12-ounces of beer, six-ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. Beyond Hangovers: Heavy Drinking Poses Serious Dangers (University of Michigan Health System, August 2, 2004). A “binge” is defined as five drinks or more in a row for a man, and four drinks for a woman. A “drink” is a 12-ounces of beer, six-ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

3) Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24. (Hingson RW, Heeren T, Zakocs RC, Kopstein A, Wechsler H. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2002)

4) Harvard Study of Public Health, 2003

5) Drinking to Extremes: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses of Peak Drinking Levels among College Students. (Gruenewalk, PJ, Johnson, FW, Light, JM, Saltz, RF. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2004)