When choosing which college a student is going to attend there are many factors to consider. Cost, how good the programs are and location are a few. However, whether or not the college is a “party school” is not an important deciding factor.

Most students choose their colleges for its programs. Choosing a college with the best program to match their majors is important. Students that choose their colleges because of their partying reputations are looking to flunk.

Although, just because students decide to attend a school known for its partying does not mean they are just there to drink and party. Partying is prevalent in college, but that does not mean all students party at a party school. When signing up for college there is no contract stating that students must drink three kegs and attend parties weekly while they are there.

The University of Idaho (U of I) is one of the more acknowledged party schools in the area. If students choose to attend U of I other students sometimes state that they are not going make it through college because of all the partying. Once again, there is no contract stating that students must party while there.

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, around 3.8 million, or 49% of full-time students drink. Also college freshmen spend more time partying than studying. Students that admit to having one drink in the last two weeks spend an average of 10.2 hours a week partying and drinking while spending only 8.4 hours a week studying and completing homework. Partying that much leads to lowered grade point averages (GPAs), loss of scholarships and maybe even failing out of college. That means these partiers waste thousands of dollars and probably make some parents very disappointed.

Drinking is a big influence on how well students perform in college. Students and their parents spend thousands of dollars to further their educations, not for students to drink and party every weekend and fail out of college. Additionally, scholarships are also taken away if students fail to keep up their GPA.

All colleges are good for more than just partying. The most important function of college is to better educate students. Even party schools offer more than just a good place to drink; consequently not all students that go to so-called party schools party. So when students choose their colleges, they need to focus on the important factors, not whether or not it is a good party school.

Shauni Wemhoff
Co-managing Editor