INFOFACTSRESOURCES

College Academic Performance and Alcohol and Other Drug Use

SEVERAL NATIONAL STUDIES HAVE documented high rates of drinking on college 
campuses and a wide range of negative repercussions of student alcohol use.1,2  
Associated with fighting, vandalism, acquaintance rape, and unprotected sex, 
drinking on college campuses has a clear and damaging effect on campus 
life.1,2,3  
	
Difficulty meeting academic responsibilities is one of the most common 
consequences of alcohol use.  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and 
Alcoholism (NIAAA) Task Force on College Drinking reports that about 25 percent 
of college students report academic problems caused by alcohol use, such as 
earning lower grades, doing poorly on exams or papers, missing class, and 
falling behind.4  
	
According to a national study of more than 14,000 students, 21.6 percent of 
students who drank during the year prior to the study had fallen behind in their 
schoolwork and 29.5 percent had missed class because of their alcohol use.2  
	
In a national survey of 33,379 college students from 53 two- and four-year 
colleges located in the United States, 21.8 percent of students reported 
performing poorly on a test or assignment, and 30.7 percent said they had missed 
a class due to alcohol use in the previous 12 months.5 
	
A national survey of nearly 94,000 students from 197 colleges and universities 
conducted over three years found in the third year that students with an A 
average consume a little more than 4 drinks per week, B students have 6 drinks 
per week, C students average almost 8 drinks per week, and students with Ds or 
Fs consume almost 10 drinks per week.1 Other studies also found a direct 
relationship between drinking on campus and poor academic performance. 6
	
In addition to well-documented consequences such as poor performance on 
assignments and missed classes, studies suggest that college drinking is a major 
factor in student dropout rates.6,7 
	
Heavy drinking also has a negative effect on the image of an institution, 
branding it a ?party school.?  This image may encourage more alcohol-related 
problems, as it attracts students who choose to be in high-risk environments.
	
Given alcohol?s detrimental effect on student performance, a decrease in 
drinking on campus should enhance the quality of higher education.  Research 
suggests that the most effective way to change the culture of drinking? is 
through environmental management, that is, by changing the physical, social, 
legal, and economic environment on and around campus that fosters alcohol use. 
For more information about environmental strategies for alcohol and other drug 
prevention, see the Higher Education Center?s publication Environmental 
Management: A Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Alcohol and Other Drug Use on 
College Campuses.

Sidebar
More Research Is Needed
Recent studies have only begun to document the relationship between academic 
performance and alcohol and other drug use on U.S. campuses. Anecdotal evidence 
points to a number of research questions needing further examination so that we 
can understand the full impact of alcohol and other drug abuse on students, 
colleges, and society. Future studies should examine:
? What proportion of academic warnings and probations can be attributed to 
alcohol and other drug abuse?
? What proportion of entering students each year end up dropping out due to 
alcohol or other drug abuse?
? What price is paid in terms of lost wages and job opportunities by students 
who never complete their college degrees?
? What burden do these dropouts place on society as a result of their lost 
productivity in the workplace?

References
1. 	Presley CA, Leichliter JS, Meilman PW. Alcohol and Drugs on American 
College Campuses: Finding from 1995, 1996, and 1997. A Report to College 
Presidents. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1999.
2. 	Wechsler H, Eun Lee J, Kuo M, Seibring M, Nelson TB, Lee H. Trends in 
College Binge Drinking During a Period of Increased Prevention Efforts: Findings 
from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Surveys: 1993?2001.  
Journal of American College Health April 2002: 50: 203?217.
3.	 Abbey A. Acquaintance Rape and Alcohol Consumption on College Campuses: 
How Are They Linked? Journal of American College Health 1991: 39: 165?169. 
4. 	Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and 
Alcoholism, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  A Call to 
Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges (Washington, DC: 
National Institutes of Health, 2002).
5. 	Core Institute. 2005 Statistics on Alcohol and Other Drug Use on American 
Campuses. These colleges conducted the Core Survey sometime during 2005. All 
institutions used methods to ensure a random and representative sample of their 
respective student bodies. http://www.siu.edu/departments/coreinst/public_html.
6. 	Sullivan M, Risler E.  Understanding College Alcohol Abuse and Academic 
Performance: Selecting Appropriate Intervention Strategies.  Journal of College 
Counseling Fall 2002: 5 (2): 114-124.
7. 	Perkins HW. Surveying the Damage: A Review of Research on Consequences of 
Alcohol Misuse in College Populations. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, supplement 
no. 14, 2002: 91?100. 

Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS)
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/osdfs; 202-245-7896

OSDFS supports efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent 
alcohol and other drug abuse, ensure the health and well-being of students, and 
teach students good character and citizenship. The agency provides financial 
assistance for drug abuse and violence prevention programs and activities that 
promote the health and well-being of students in elementary and secondary 
schools and institutions of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education?s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other 
Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention
http://www.higheredcenter.org; 1-800-676-1730; TDD Relay-friendly, Dial 711

The Higher Education Center offers an integrated array of services to help 
campuses and communities come together to identify problems; assess needs; and 
plan, implement, and evaluate alcohol and other drug abuse and violence 
prevention programs. Services include training; technical assistance; 
publications; support for the Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other 
Drug Issues; and evaluation activities. The Higher Education Center?s 
publications are free and can be downloaded from its Web site.

Other Organizations

American College Personnel Association
http://www.acpa.nche.edu; 202-835-2272

The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) is a professional organization 
for college student affairs educators and administrators.  The association 
sponsors an annual conference and regional workshops addressing a range of 
issues, including alcohol and other drug prevention, and publishes the magazine 
About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience and the Journal of 
College Student Development.  The ACPA Commission on Alcohol and Other Drug 
Issues provides a network for campus administrators and educators working on AOD 
use prevention.    

Center for the Advancement of Public Health
http://caph.gmu.edu; 703-993-3697

The Center for the Advancement of Public Health, which is affiliated with the 
Institute of Public Policy at George Mason University, provides 
technicalassistance and training to support colleges and universities with 
substance abuse prevention program design, implementation, and evaluation.
	
The center publishes Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies, which 
describes over 200 college substance abuse prevention programs and includes 
contact information.  Promising Practices was funded by the Century Council, 
anational not-for-profit organization of alcohol industry distillers, vintners, 
brewers, and wholesalers.  
	
The center?s Web site, Vision: Preventing Alcohol and Other Drug Misuse Through 
Healthy Living, offers information and resources on substance abuse 
prevention and links to many other related Internet sources. 

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
http://www.prevention.samhsa.gov; 301-443-8956

The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is one of the primary agencies 
leading federal efforts to prevent alcohol and other drug abuse.  CSAP supports 
prevention programs on the local, state, and national level through trainings, 
technical assistance, curriculum development and testing, project grants, and 
information services, including the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug 
Information (NCADI).

Core Institute
http://www.siu.edu/~coreinst; 618-453-4420

The Core Institute is a federally funded program based at Southern 
IllinoisUniversity  Carbondale that assists colleges and universities in alcohol 
and other drug prevention efforts.  The institute offers copies of the Core 
Alcohol and Drug Survey, a four-page questionnaire designed to be used as a 
pretest-posttest measure of the effectiveness of campus-based prevention 
programs.  The survey includes questions on academic performance as well as 
substance use, campus climate, campus violence, beliefs about the effects of 
alcohol, participation in campus activities, perceptions of group norms, risks 
involved in using alcohol and other drugs, and secondary effects of drinking.  
The institute provides technical assistance on survey administration and data 
analysis and interpretation.  The Core Survey is widely used by colleges 
anduniversities around the country and was designed to be inexpensive, easily 
administered, statistically reliable and valid, and comparable to other surveys 
used in the field.  Copies of the survey can be ordered by contacting the 
institute.
	
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
http://www.naspa.org; 202-265-7500

The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) is a 
professional group for student affairs administrators in higher education. NASPA 
sponsors national conferences, management trainings, teleconferences, and 
workshops to support the work of student affairs administrators around the 
country.  NASPA publications include Alcohol Policies and Practices on College 
and University Campuses, which covers effective policymaking and legal liability 
issues.

National Clearinghouse for 
Commuter Programs
http://www.nccp.umd.edu; 301-314-7250

The National Clearinghouse for Commuter Programs (NCCP) provides resources and 
technical support for educators and administrators developing services for 
commuter students on college campuses.  NCCP staff lead workshops related to the 
needs of commuter students, including enhancing academic performance and 
preventing alcohol and other drug use.  The clearinghouse publishes 
CommuterPerspectives, a quarterly newsletter; Serving Commuter Students: 
Examples of Good Practice, a compendium of innovative programs from around 
thecountry; and Learning About Commuter Students: Resources Within Reach, a 
comprehensive guide to resources on commuter students.  NCCP also maintains a 
resource library of surveys, brochures, handbooks, and other materials from 
commuter student programs around the country.

National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience? and Students in 
Transition
http://www.sc.edu/fye; 803-777-6029

The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience? and Students in 
Transition, based at the University of South Carolina, provides support and 
resources for administrators and instructors implementing orientation programs 
for new students.  The center?s orientation strategies are designed to enhance 
new students? academic performance and other aspects of the college experience 
and to incorporate alcohol and other drug use prevention.  The center offers a 
series of national and international conferences; topical national forums; 
first-year seminar instructor training workshops; resource seminars; technical 
assistance; video/audio resources; and publications. 
	
With a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education 
(FIPSE), the University of South Carolina also developed ?RisQuŽ Business,? a 
peer education drama program focusing primarily on alcohol and other drug use 
but also including a series of skits addressing acquaintance rape, 
smoking,suicide, 

eating disorders, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and racism and 
other bigotry on college campuses. The ?RisQuŽ Business? performance runs about 
45 minutes and is followed by a discussion with the audience led by the student 
actors.  For ordering information, call  the Russell House Alcohol and Drug 
Programs at the University of South Carolina at (803) 777-7716

The Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other Drug Issues
http://www.thenetwork.ws; see Web site for 
telephone contacts by region

The Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other Drug Issues (Network) is a 
national consortium of colleges and universities formed to promote healthy 
campus environments by addressing issues related to alcohol and other drugs. 
Developed 
in 1987 by the U.S. Department of Education, the Network comprises member 
institutions that voluntarily agree to work toward a set of standards aimed at 
reducing AOD problems at colleges and universities. It has more than 1,600 
members nationwide.

Other Internet Resources

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
http://ncadi.samhsa.gov; 1-800-729-6686

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), administered by 
the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), is the world?s largest 
resource for current information and materials concerning substance 
abuseprevention, and Prevline is its site on the World Wide Web.  NCADI?s 
information services staff is equipped to answer questions from the public and 
to do customized bibliographic searches on request in alcohol and other drug 
databases.  The clearinghouse also distributes fact sheets, brochures, 
pamphlets, posters, videotapes, and other educational material free of charge 
and disseminates information on federal funding opportunities.  

This publication was funded by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the 
U.S. Department of Education under contract number ED-04-CO-0137 with Education 
Lucey, Jr. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the 
views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does the mention of 
trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. 
government. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs for information 
created and maintained by private organizations. This information is provided 
for the reader?s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education is not 
responsible for controlling or guaranteeing the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, 
or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of 
information or a hyperlink or URL does not reflect the importance of the 
organization, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or 
services offered.  Published 1997;  revised January 2001,  January 2003; latest 
update August 2008.