<p>I was surprised to learn that there are in fact college towns that prohibit alcohol sales. Such towns include places where the student body includes over 10,000 students, like Louisiana Tech (whatever do they do on Mardi Gras?).</p>
<p>I'm not convinced that choosing such a location is necessarily going to prevent an otherwise diligent student from running afoul of 'no alcohol' policies on campus and off campus. In fact, it may be a disaster waiting to happen, for social butterfly students (or others with real self-control problems).</p>
<p>I would support my student’s choice to attend, but would talk to them v-e-r-y seriously about the ramifications of these things. In fact, there are dry campuses as well, and getting caught with a beer in hand can be a serious issue at some of these schools that can cause a huge headache for parents and students alike. I’ve known a lot of families who have been through a very expensive wringer for those sort of transgressions. My close friend’s daughter was booked and jailed, along with a bunch of other kids who had alcohol in a dry town, coerced to write out confessions, and my friend ended up having to spend a small fortune in attorney fees or face the chance of her getting into some real trouble. It’s a great industry for the town’s attorneys and courts, by the way. To make matters worse, when the young woman went to for bar exam, she had to spend time and money to take care of the matter as they do an extensive check before admitting you to the bar. Yes, things like this can pop up and can be an impediment. </p>
<p>Even worse, is when kids drive to other locales to drink and sometimes are not so careful about designating a driver. If kids are going to drink, to do so on their home campus is preferable than to have them out in vehicles. That probably is one of the reasons that I support lowering the drinking age. Most campuses, though they have rules about drinking, alcohol in the dorms, etc, have in house tribunals to take care of any transgressions that are far less expensive and damning than when the town police department, county sheriff are involved. </p>
<p>So it’s not just a matter of what the rules and law are in terms of these things, but how they are enforced. I knew a little town that was enroute to an airport that made a lot of money catching speeders, and that was a nice piece of their operating budget. Some of these areas count on the money that Mardi Gras brings in, and not just in fun festivities but by fines levied on those college students that they can round up. </p>
<p>It’s not just the students with self control problems, the hard core drinkers and the social butterflies that will find themselves in trouble. Many of those kids have already been navigating the roads of illegal drinking during high school and are savvy. It’s often the “good kid” who is naive and becomes the “deer in the headlights” when there is a raid who gets caught. I’ve seen this many times. My friend’s DD was not even drinking, by the way, when she got in trouble. She was holding an empty beer can. She learned a lot about how cops abuse their powers that night.</p>
<p>I would strongly discourage it. Having been raised in a religion that preached abstinence (from alcohol), I know from experience what kids will do.</p>
<p>I went to school in a dry town. There was a liquor store on the town line. Eventually, the student center must have gotten a liquor license, because I recall them serving beer and wine. Of course, the legal drinking age then was 18, and very, very few students had cars. I think it really depends on the type of school. Kids who want to drink will get alcohol, no matter what. (I am strongly opposed to most kids taking a car to school, especially as freshmen. Asking for trouble, IMHO.) There was a lot more pot smoking than binge drinking back then.</p>
<p>Cpt, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I would like to see our laws changed such that 18-21 year olds can drink on premises only (i.e., no take out) if they have a non-driver’s license (only issue to non-drivers, good for identification).</p>
<p>I also agree with cpt. I would be more concerned about drinking an driving and/or the ramifications of punitive issues and would caution (my) kids about chosing a dry college town.</p>
<p>Even the “good” and “wise” kids are very likely going to do some things against the rules. You can pretty much count on it. And if they are not experienced in sniffing out when a crack down is going to occur or get unlucky, it can really be an expensive headache. But the worst is the drinking and driving. It’s an issue even if your kid doesn’t get into a situation like that, because you can’t control who else is out on that road that went out to get their drinking and is driving back home in bad shape. </p>
<p>So no, I don’t like it at all. I’ve fortunately not known personally of anyone in any car wrecks or injured physically in these situation, but I know a lot of kids and parents who laid out money for infractions that these towns are smacking their licks to catch because it brings in money. And I am talking about some serious money here, in the thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>Sure, it would be of no concern to my son. I had plenty of college mates who never drank. For some it was a religious proscription but for others it just wasn’t their thing.</p>
<p>Sadly there is drinking and driving it “wet” towns, too.</p>
<p>Coming from a “good, religious” kid at a dry campus, I think a dry town is just asking for trouble. Everyone remembers what happened during the Prohibition tines right?</p>
<p>Anyway, people in my dorm building drink alcohol all the time, and they do get busted and they risk being expelled from the dorms and even the school. Once, I was my friends’ DD at the first and only college party I went to, and I was terrified that the cops would come and that I’d get wrongly accused (I wasn’t drinking). People were also smoking pot, so I was worried it’d be in my clothes and in my hair when we went back to the dorms. I made my friends leave sooner than they wanted to, and luckily for us, the cops had come a half hour after we left. </p>
<p>I learned that day that exposing yourself to risk is a horrible idea, and I think in a dry town, the dry campus risk is multiplied by ten. So even good and religious kids are constantly exposed to danger, and it just doesn’t seem fair.</p>
<p>Most all schools have drinking, underage illegal drinking, too much drinking. There are a few schools that have pretty much shut it down, some of the Christian colleges, but other than that, the drinking is there. Whether the school is dry, the town is dry, the reality is the that the kids do drink, again, most of the time. </p>
<p>I guess it’s a matter of doing some research to see if the school makes picking up college students on drinking transgressions an important line item. Talking to kids at the school, and getting some idea. </p>
<p>I was not a fan of those schools where a lot of kids had their own cars either, or where there was a significant Greek presence. All things to keep in mind when looking at schools.</p>
<p>There’s a big difference between a dry town and a dry campus. I grew up in a dry town and there was a liquor store right across the town line, about as far from home as most people in my current town drive to get to liquor stores in the center of town. The town where I grew up is home to a major college and I haven’t heard of alcohol problems beyond those you find on any college campus (party drinking, etc.)</p>
<p>While colleges in urban areas may have bars and liquor stores within walking distance, in most places students have to get in a car or take public transportation if they want to drink off campus whether the town is dry or not. I think that rather than looking at town law, families should be looking at school alcohol policies to see if they match with their own philosophies as to drug and alcohol use.</p>
<p>When I was at Northwestern in the dark ages, they did not allow packaged liquor sales in Evanston. That was OK, the liquor stores in Chicago delivered to the dorms! And they rarely even checked IDs. There was plenty of alcohol in the supposed “dry” town. And there was a bar in the student center!</p>
<p>D goes to AU which is a dry campus and I think that there is less on campus drinking. Of course, they just go to off campus parties - but no driving, so not a big concern of mine. </p>
<p>Many friends of mine went to Baylor (is it still dry?) and I would have been much more worried about them. Off campus drinking and driving back to campus! Recipe for disaster. </p>
<p>IMO, college kids will always find alcohol, if they want it. And I would much prefer them to do it in an environment where there is no car needed, either on campus or in a city with public transportation.</p>
<p>I believe it has a potential for a higher drinking/driving rate. It opens your child being on the road with a larger than average drunk driving rate.</p>
<p>If it were a small school, I may not feel the same way.</p>
<p>I truly believe a lower drinking age would be better. It frustrates me that we trust 18 year olds to enlist or marry, but not drink.</p>
<p>You all raise some great points that I hadn’t considered. But it still strikes me as funny that the bottom line could be interpreted as “No, you must go to school in a town with liquor!”</p>
<p>(I’m a fan of liquor, by the way. I just don’t buy into the idea that all students are going to drink.)</p>
<p>My older daughter went to a dry school, and now lives in a dry county in Alaska.</p>
<p>No big deal.</p>
<p>Younger daughter drinks from time to time now that she is old enough, but never to get intoxicated. She has wine with dinner sometimes (it was less expensive than soda when traveling in Europe, which introduced her to wine) or once in a while goes to a club and has one drink. She and her best friends at school could survive happily in a dry community.</p>
Eventually, the student center must have gotten a liquor license, because I recall them serving beer and wine. Of course, the legal drinking age then was 18, and very, very few students had cars. I think it really depends on the type of school. Kids who want to drink will get alcohol, no matter what. (I am strongly opposed to most kids taking a car to school, especially as freshmen. Asking for trouble, IMHO.) There was a lot more pot smoking than binge drinking back then.</p>