Alcohol-related deaths, heavy drinking episodes and drunk driving have all been on the rise on college campuses over the past decade, a new government study shows.

Using figures from government databases and national surveys on alcohol use, researchers a found that drinking-related accidental deaths among 18- to 24-year-old students have been creeping upward — from 1,440 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005.

At the same time, the proportion of students who reported “binge drinking” rose from roughly 42 percent to 45 percent.

See all the stats here!

You know all about student pranks – greased pigs in the cafeteria, cows being led upstairs, all of that juvenile stuff.  Maybe you’ve even heard about the more complicated college stunts – when M.I.T. students erected a police car on the top of the school’s Great Dome, for example.  Its license plate number was pi.

Anyway, here are a few lesser-known student stunts.  If you’re, um, “inspired” by some of these, I claim no fault… but be sure to take pictures.

See the pranks here!

With the start of the academic year, it’s time to switch out of vacation mode—pronto.

What you do the first week of classes can majorly impact your grades four months from now, so don’t skip these first week must-dos.

Check out the 10 Must-Dos for the First Week of College here!

College students have always been prime targets for anti-piracy outfits such as the RIAA. Despite inundating students with mountains of threats and legal action, the number of copyright infringements committed by them have not declined. What did change though is the positioning of various universities in the list of most infringing establishments.

In the United States, MIT is leading the list of universities ranked by the number of recorded copyright infringements for the second year in a row, followed by the newcomer University of Washington.

See the rest of the schools here!

Their football futures were so bright, their potential so limitless, it would have been hard to imagine that the three college superstars had just peaked. Bush, Young and Leinart were taken Nos. 2, 3 and 10, respectively, in the 2006 NFL draft. But in the three years since, Canton has faded beyond the horizon as expectations have been adjusted downward for the once-dazzling trio.

As it stands, the less-heralded USC running back LenDale White — taken with the 45th pick in the 2006 draft — has been a much better pro than Young, Leinart or Bush. White ran for 1,110 yards in 2007 and scored 15 touchdowns last year.

Find out why did these NCAA stars went bust!

Very soon you will have to pack up my entire room and cram it into a sedan because summer is nearly over and college will be back in session.

This can be a very arduous task but there are a few trick to successfully packing everything you need in one car load.

Check out how to properly pack up a car with your belongings, here.

Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.

Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.

“I’ve seen a surge of young people coming to work in China over the last few years,” said Jack Perkowski, founder of Asimco Technologies, one of the largest automotive parts companies in China.

Read more about the shift to China!

CourseSmart is a provider of e-textbooks, or textbooks converted to a format that can be viewed on a computer. Now, it has brought students everywhere something even more useful: an iPhone application.

CourseSmart is free, but requires an account with the company. If you already use the service you just sign in and have immediate access to all the books you have bought. Browsing the reviews in the App Store, it looks to be a rather well focused first effort — there are some navigation issues, notably no double-tap to zoom, but apparently the texts are clear, and the search works very well.

Check it out in action here!

Summer is nearly over and if you haven’t got accepted into a four year school it’s time to start thinking seriously about other options.

Think community college is the easiest way to continue your education without really trying? Think again!

From living in your home town to studying beside baby boomers, surviving Community College is harder than you thought.

Are you ready for it? Take this quiz and find out.

Community Colleges changing what it’s like to be a student. These changes are simply reshaping the experience and could wind up helping students in the long run. The community college is an underrated asset to the college student.

When students spend there first two years at a community college they don’t have the other disturbances (good or bad) that students who are living a school face.

Students just go to school and that’s it. Adopting this type of focus can help out a lot in the long run.  For one, your GPA will be higher.

Also you’ll have developed skills to handle college level material in a setting that has less temptations.  So, when the time comes for you to move on to a university where there are bars and parties you’ll know when to let go.

Find out the rest of What Community College Means for Students, here!