College students drink greater quantities and more frequently than their peers of the same age group who do not attend college. The average college student imbibes 34 gallons of alcoholic beverages each year. Binge drinking poses greater health risks for women. Women develop alcoholic liver disease, particularly alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis, after a comparatively shorter period of heavy drinking and at a lower level of daily drinking than men. Freshmen are more likely to drink, drink more and drink more often than seniors.
Consumption of alcohol declines each year a student is in school.
While freshmen average 6.1 drinks per week, seniors average 5.4. Those students living with parents, a spouse, or alone are at a lower risk for heavy drinking. The number of college women who go on drinking binges has tripled since the mid 1970's. One in three of all college students drinks specifically to get drunk. Sixty percent of college women who are diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease has been intoxicated at the time they were infected.