How Much College Students Spend on Alcohol

This Infographic by 12 Keys Rehab shares that:

• Americans spend 163 BILLION dollars each year on alcohol
• For every $100 that’s spent, $1 goes to purchase alcohol
• 17 million college students drink alcohol – that’s 2X the population of New York City
• 8.5 million college students binge drink – that’s more than the entire population of Virgina
• 88% of student athletes use alcohol
• The average college student spends $500 per year on booze
• A more recent study shows that the average student now spends almost $900 per year on booze and only $450 on books
• The average college student is drunk for 10.6 hours each week

Needless to say, this is depressing. The average person in the U.S. is $60,000 in credit card and student loan debt, but we’re willing to carve out a significant part of our budget for booze. And I listen to college students complain about “being poor” all the time… all I can say is. Choices.

But let’s look at the other side. I know from throwing sober house parties, that students are willing to party without any drugs or alcohol. In fact, recent studies show that nearly 30% of college students don’t drink alcohol or use any drugs.

Since you spend time and money, let’s look at how much money these college students save by being sober. Here’s my math…

• 20 million college students X 30% = 6 million sober college students
• YOU save $900 a year ($42/month) and 10.6 hours per week being sober in college, but let’s see how much it is collectively… just for fun
• 6 million students X saving $900/year on alcohol = 5.4 BILLION dollars saved by not drinking (Let’s buy an island!)
• 28 academic weeks per year X 10.6 more hours per week since you’re not wasted = 296 hours of unwasted weekends every year

What would you do with 10 more hours and $40 more in your pocket each week?