Some Oklahoma college students choose not to use alcohol

Handy, 19, has plenty of opportunities to drink, but she chooses not to.

“I don't think that drinking is bad,” Handy said. “I think that sometimes it can put people in bad situations, and that's just what I'm trying to avoid.”

She's not alone. A growing number of college students refrain from drinking or drinking excessively, according to Outside the Classroom, a national organization that tracks alcohol consumption rates among college students.

The percentage of college students who reported they hadn't had a drink during the past 30 days increased from 38 percent to 62 percent between 2006 and 2010, according to surveys conducted by Outside the Classroom. Some of those students are committed abstainers like Handy. The rest tend not to drink excessively.

Outside the Classroom surveys about one-third of incoming college freshmen in the United States, founder and CEO Brandon Busteed said.

Why more incoming freshmen abstain from drinking or drinking heavily is unclear.

Busteed said the economy could be a factor. Many parents are making sacrifices to send their children to school, and more students are working or borrowing money to pay for their education, Busteed said. They want to make the most of it.

Busteed said his organization collects data about college drinking through surveys and studies of alcohol-related issues and through an online course that some college freshman are required to take, AlcoholEdu. Busteed wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education last year, “From those sources of information and inquiry, the evidence suggests real progress toward reducing high-risk drinking.”

The growth of Facebook and other social media outlets could also play a role, Busteed said. He said students don't want their grandmother or potential employers to see photos of them doing a keg stand.