Fewer college freshmen are drinking alcoholic drinks, according to Outside the Classroom, an organization that surveys about a third of freshmen entering four-year universities and colleges each year.

The 2010 survey of about 500,000 students reported that 62 percent of incoming freshmen don't drink. That figure has risen from 38 percent in 2006.

Researchers said the weak economy is a factor. Students are taking college more seriously because they realize how important a degree is to their careers.

Another factor is a lack of privacy. Facebook has become a tool for would-be employers and pictures posted to the social networking website could ruin a potential candidate's job opportunity.

"A lot of young adults realize that the quickest thing you can do to destroy a job interview is to go in all shiny and polished up and then they check Facebook and there they are 'at a keg stand,'" Brandon Busteed, chief executive officer of Outside the Classroom, told USA Today.