Over indulging can be a problem.

Moderation is key in everyday life.

Whether it be sex, food or spending money, if it is done without thinking of the consequences; a problem may come up.

Drinking is always a problem, not only when it is done out of moderation.

Everybody claims to know their limit.

Nobody can be certain though.

Alcohol affects everybody differently.

College drinking is a different type of drinking.

A person could be taking a couple of jello shots and before they know it, they are downing a bottle of Crown Royal Apple.

When it comes to college drinking, a college freshman, who has never drank alcohol, has a greater chance of being exposed to alcohol for the first time within their first semester.

More specifically, the first six weeks of a first-time freshman’s year is a high-risk period.

Students drink for various reasons such as stress, peer pressure or enjoyment.

The worse type of drinking is stress drinking, because if a person has problems, mixing alcohol with those problems will just lead to more issues.

In school, one of the biggest things to stress about is staying above the required GPA.

First-time freshmen, who have never dealed with the pressures of college are the most vulnerable to alcohol.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse, one in four students blamed alcohol as the source of their academic problems.

The students would miss class, score poorly on tests, and receive lower grades in class overall after abusing alcohol.

Other students have different reasons as to why they drink.

Senior secondary education major, Ayesha Kelly, says when she’s at a party and wants to have more fun, she will drink alcohol to make the experience more enjoyable.

“It loosens me up,” Kelly said.

The Washington Post reports that 80 percent of students drink alcohol.

The NIAA reports that more than 60 percent of students drank alcohol in the past month and two thirds of those same students’ binge drink within that period.

Paul Jameson, junior criminal justice major, says he likes to drink because it “gives people the confidence they may not have when they are sober.”

He says alcohol can turn any bad day into a good day.

The university has a counseling center on campus.

The issue isn’t having help, it’s getting helped.

Students and people in general tend to have a hard time admitting they have a problem.

After admittting they have a problem they have to seek help.

There are students on campus that don’t know that we have a counseling center or that we have an alcohol guidance counselor whose job is to help students with drinking problems.

Each year, around 1,800 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol- related injuries. Each year around 700,000 students between 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.

Each year about 100,000 students between 18 and 24 are sexually assaulted and or date raped.

Louisiana has a holiday called Mardi Gras where participants are known to roam New Orleans drunk or looking to get drunk, but, even with that fact, Louisiana has the seventh lowest rate of alcohol poisoning in the country.

New Orleans and Mardi Gras are a big factor in increased drinking among college students in Louisiana. Out-of-state students are encouraged to adopt the Louisiana culture and with that comes drinking and partying hard.

This often times leads to injury and or death.