Studies have shown that 80 percent of all college students admit to cheating at least once.

The term cheating can be defined and performed in serveral ways. Among the many techniques, the most common include, but are not limited to, getting answers prior to an exam or important assignment via a friend or the Internet, or using almost anything from hiding cheat sheets on body parts, and even clothing to aid in the cheating process.

The majority of students are strongly against cheating whether it's premeditated, plagiarizing, or copying each other's work. However, that isn't always the case.

When asked about cheating, "despicable" was the one word used by sophomore Adam Rua from Bridgeport to summarize his feelings towards the general concept.

"It was aggravating to see someone copy someone who actually worked hard. It occurred too much [when I was in high school]. [In college,] people are more mature and knowledgeable so people don't do it as often and usually have their own answers. It is pathetic to be in school paying $33,000 a year just to not know what the hell you're doing," said Rua.

"I never cheated because I want to get my degree knowing I earned it," said Chris Grova, junior, Seymour.

Even the students who admitted to cheating or assisting others in doing so, had negative feelings about the whole idea.

Reasons for cheating vary but usually include a need to excel academically whether due to a student's own pressure and expectations or that of others. Cheating is usually results from a lack of confidence, pressure, or lack of preparation and studying. While some students believe that parental pressure contributes to the likelihood of them cheating, others disagree.

"Most of the time I cheated when I had no idea what the class was about, which probably meant that the teacher was doing a horrible job teaching. I didn't feel bad, I just feel that I didn't learn a thing," said a junior from Bridgeport.

Sharing a different view on why students cheat, Professor Martha Griffin of the Media Studies Departments said, "Philosophically, I believe people cheat in school for the same reason they cheat in life. They lack confidence in their own abilities and they lack respect for others."

Punishments for cheating are usually very strict but may vary with each individual teacher or school. However the consequences usually include either failing that particular assignment, failing the course, being expelled from the class, or even expelled from the school depending on how extreme the case was. Generally, students felt favorably towards the punishments enforced by the school for cheating even though some believed them to be just average.

"The plagiarism idea is great. People who cheat deserve the F," said Rua.

"The main method for cheating today is to google answers from the Internet. I truly believe some students do not realize this is cheating," said Professor Griffin.

"I usually [wore] a skirt and wrote [the answers] on my thighs [when I cheated in high school]. In college, I remember copying off the person next to me, usually someone that I knew," said a sophomore from Bridgeport.

Although none of the students interviewed who have cheated in the past were caught doing so, feeling nervous and scared are some of its typical symptoms for some of the students.

Throughout the years, teachers have been working on trying to decrease the cheating statistics for college as well as high school students by being more cautious and attentive and by enforcing even tougher consequences.

Despite the fact that cheating is shown to be a national problem based on the statistics, it is evident that even SHU students who have cheated feel that it's not right and should bereprimanded.

Some students will continue to cheat and will have to take responsibility for themselves. Others may learn from their mistakes and study harder for the next time. Over all cheating is not something to be tampered with. Students should continuously be aware of what could happen if caught by a professor or even another classmate.

Perhaps Professor Griffin summarizes it all the best, "While I think the incidence of cheating is probably increasing, cheating in general is still the exception rather than the rule. People who cheat when they are getting an education ultimately cheat themselves of knowledge. People who let others have their answers are doing the mental equivalent of beating themselves up. No one can pay you enough money to make cheating worth the damage done to your integrity."