By Rachel Weaver
Henry Pinnix knows not all college students share his idea of fun.
"I can have fun without drinking," said Pinnix, a senior and resident assistant at La Roche College in McCandless. "It should tell you something if you can't have fun without it."
Research shows Pinnix isn't alone. Information from Massachusetts-based Outside the Classroom, which provides alcohol education training at colleges, suggests more incoming freshmen are arriving as teetotalers.
A 2010 survey of about a half-million students reported 62 percent of incoming freshmen abstain from alcohol. That's up from 38 percent in 2006.
Outside the Classroom interviews students the summer before they start college and again in the fall. Typically, the number of abstainers falls 50 percent by October.
"The first six weeks are one of the riskiest time frames in relation to freshmen and drinking," said Brandon Busteed, Outside the Classroom's president and a Wexford native. "I'd encourage students to not make a decision about drinking until the end of their first semester. Get a sense of the scene, and wait to make the decision."
Pinnix said several freshmen he knows told him they don't drink. Colleen Ruefle, vice president for student life and dean of students at La Roche, said she perceives a drop in underage drinking.
"Students have different concerns," she said. "They are more into the environment or community service."
Busteed said the economy plays a role.
"People who are going to college are more financially strained than ever before," he said. "The stakes are higher."
Not all students, however, think the survey results reflect their experience at school.
Ryan Lonergan, a University of Pittsburgh sophomore who counts drinkers and non-drinkers among his friends, said 62 percent seems high for teetotalers.
"But I would say a lot of statistics about people who do drink are inflated," he said.
A 2009 survey of 150 Point Park University students who live on campus found 85 percent of respondents reported having a drink at some point during the prior year, said Michael Gieseke, senior assistant dean for student life.
The university provides alternatives to drinking, said Amanda McGuire, alcohol and drug educator. Each year, it hosts an alcohol-free Halloween dance for Point Park and Art Institute of Pittsburgh students. About 700 attend.
"It's a way for them to go out, dress up and have fun," Gieseke said.
William Oshoff, a Pitt freshman, said he doesn't drink but "would guess the number of people who do is a lot higher than reported." He said there is a "big emphasis" at Pitt to talk to students about drinking.
Most colleges discuss alcohol use during student orientation. La Roche staff teach students ways to tactfully remove themselves from situations involving alcohol, Ruefle said. Each spring, the campus sponsors a drunken-driving simulation so students can see how alcohol affects judgment. Point Park holds a similar event.
Carnegie Mellon University uses AlcoholEdu, the online alcohol prevention program of Outside the Classroom. Kelley Shell, the university's health promotion specialist, said incoming students are asked to complete the program, which addresses consumption habits and works to change behaviors if necessary.
In addition, the school's peer-to-peer health advocate gives students information about alcohol's effects and risks.
Shell said school officials discourage underage drinking but recognize some students will choose to drink.
"If they're going to drink, we talk about ways to keep themselves safe," she said. "We talk about what is a drink. If someone has an 8-ounce glass of vodka, that's not one drink. It's about eight."
Despite Outside the Classroom's findings, the news about college drinking isn't all good, Busteed said, citing the emergence of alcoholic energy drinks and "pre-gaming" -- or drinking at home before going out to drink.
"Colleges can't address every issue, but they can make sure they're really targeting and focusing on things like this," he said.