Free smoking cessation classes for adults and students will be offered tomorrow at Schlow Library by the American Cancer Society.

The FreshStart program will take place during the next two weeks from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. tomorrow and Friday, and also Feb. 7 and 8, said coordinator Becky Olson.

"The purpose of the program is to give people the tools, knowledge and the education to (quit) themselves,"she said.

Statistics have shown that most people who have quit smoking on their own do it "cold turkey," she said.

But some people are unable to do so without support, she said.

"Some people just do better when they're going through it with someone else," she said. "Even if that person was a stranger at session one, they're usually not by the end of that session."

A trained facilitator will lead the sessions and discuss ways of quitting and staying away from cigarettes. The free sessions cover the same material that the pay programs offer and the cessation rates are equivalent, she said.

Participants are urged to quit by the first or second session, she said. The first two sessions are divided from the last two by a weekend so that smokers will have a chance to try and make it through without smoking.

"Even if they can't make it through the weekend, just by trying it elicits a lot of problems and questions the participants may not have thought about," she said. "Then they can come back to the class the following week and we can help them work through their problems."

The classes will be kept small to facilitate better discussion of how quitting can be accomplished, Olson said.

"Normally the classes can only hold 12 people," she said, "so if we have an overwhelming response we'll schedule another one a week or two later."

Though not offered currently, University faculty and staff can also receive cessation classes through Penn State, said Nancy Sassano, coordinator of health promotion programs.

Student smoking cessation classes, called Peers Supporting Quitting, are also offered at the University's Ritenour Health Center.