Incoming freshmen and transfer students under the age of 21 at West Virginia University are now required to take an online class on alcohol education.
This is the first year that the AlcoholEdu course is being used at WVU, said Missy Pforr, alcohol education coordinator.
"We wanted to provide college students a way to make better-informed decisions regarding alcohol," Pforr said.
She added that it is a science-based course taken by thousands of college students every year around the country.
"Drinking continues to be a problem for college students," she said.
"We wanted to be proactive and give students a way to understand how to make better decisions, better choices and become more responsible," she said.
Different online programs were considered before deciding on this one, she said.
"We thought this program would best meet our needs. A lot of other colleges use this program, and it is an evidence-based research program that is proven to be effective."
The course, which teaches students the appropriate serving sizes of different types of alcohol, how to recognize alcohol poisoning, ways to avoid binge drinking and the consequences of driving while under the influence, among other things, must be completed by Sept. 25 or a $50 charge will be added to the student's account.
In order to pass the course, and receive credit, a student must obtain a grade of 70 percent or higher.
However, the grade will not show up on any student transcripts, records or affect GPAs.
The information is only used by the alcohol education department, and it will not include any names or personal information.
This program was purchased and a contract was signed for the next four years. Pforr said she sees WVU using the program even beyond that.
The program began two weeks ago, and so far, 4,800 students have logged on to start the course.
"I think all colleges have a problem with alcohol. I don't think WVU has a worse problem than any other college," Pforr said in response to whether or not the program was being implemented because of an alcohol problem at WVU.
Morgan Sharpless, an intern with the department and a social work graduate student, agreed.
"In general, drinking alcohol is a big problem. Every school that I've looked at online has expensive drug and alcohol problems. It's widespread across the country," Sharpless said.
She believes that students will benefit from the program.
"It will give students a baseline knowledge about alcohol in general," she said.
"Not a lot of students have had alcohol education, so this will help them to learn what they might not have learned from their parents or in high school."
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