Since last year, there has been an almost 40 percent increase in student alcohol overdoses, according to recent statistics released by Mount Nittany Medical Center.

During the first quarter of 2007, 109 students went to the hospital with alcohol-related problems, a jump from 79 students in the first quarter of 2006.

According to the Penn State factbook, enrollment was 42,039 for this school year, up from 39,777 last school year.

Blood-alcohol content levels of patients are also on the rise, the medical center reported. The average blood-alcohol content for a patient was .245 this year, up from .233 last year.

"It's frustrating despite the educational programs that more Penn State students are ending the evening in an emergency room," Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said.

Linda LaSalle, health adviser at University Health Services, said she is also concerned about a rising drinking problem.

"High-risk drinking is on the rise nationally," LaSalle said. "We don't want students ever drinking so much that they could actually die."

Students rarely stop drinking until they feel a disturbance in their bodies, LaSalle said.

"The culture of college campuses needs to change to address this problem," she said.

LaSalle said to address this issue, the entire outlook on drinking needs to change. Currently, students feel that drinking alcohol is required to fit in, and until that notion is disregarded, the current drinking problem will not be resolved, LaSalle said.

Austin Fusiak (junior-electrical engineering and engineering science) attributes the problem to something else.

"I think [excessive drinking] is based off of the freshman outlook of Penn State as they're coming in," Fusiak said.

"Everyone has an image of what Penn State is like when they're coming in, and they try to make it that."

Although some students said they feel pressured to drink, officials said it remains a mystery as to whether excessive drinking results from a lack of awareness or a lack of responsibility.

"It's a lot more complicated than a simple answer," Mahon said. "I can't imagine any Penn State student who would think that drinking a large amount of drinks in a short time will end good."

Stephen Seth (freshman-landscape architecture) said he thinks the drinking problem is a mixture of both.

"Some people don't care, and some people don't know," he said.

"As long as they get the feeling that they want from it, it's worth it to them."

Although the university makes efforts to reverse this trend by posting facts about alcohol around dorms, hosting alcohol-free activities in the HUB-Robeson Center and requesting information from the emergency room, there is no sign that it will work, Mahon said, leaving students to decide for themselves.

"You have to ask yourself how many [emergency room] visits will happen before they become fatalities," Mahon said.