by KYW's Lynne Adkins

For the first time ever, each first-year student at Penn State University is being told to go through an online alcohol awareness program before the fall semester.

More than 15,000 incoming students must now log onto AlcoholEdu for College and complete the interactive course sometime this summer, according to Linda LaSalle, coordinator of educational services at Penn State:

"The first part is about 2½ hours. Part two, which is done 45 days later, takes 20 minutes."

She says this is just the latest attempt to cut down on campus drinking:

["The actual purpose is to motivate behavior change. They'll learn a lot about blood alcohol concentration, the effect of alcohol on learning and memory, and alcohol's effect on sexual decision-making."

She says students who don't take the course will  be allowed to attend classes, but if they're caught drinking, the fact that they didn't log on will be used against them.