The new generation of college students may be feeling the effects of a recessed economy as first time students move away from partying and towards looking at job prospects.
According to the “2012 Freshman Norms report,” conducted by UCLA’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) each year since 1966, only 33 percent of college freshman reported drinking beer in 2012, down from 35.4 percent in 2011 and a significant decrease to the 73.7 percent who were drinking in 1982.
“Brewers and beer importers make serious efforts to reach out to educators, retailers, law enforcement and community leaders to reduce underage drinking,” said Joe McClain, president of the Beer Institute. ”While we recognize there is more work to be done to eliminate underage drinking, today we have a record number of college freshmen who are making the right choices about drinking. We are encouraged by this reduction, and America’s brewers and beer importers will continue to build upon this success through programs that will further reduce the harmful use of alcohol.”
The 2012 survey also reflected a record low in the number of college freshmen who spend six or more hours partying in a typical week during their senior year of high school. 13.7 percent (an eight percent decrease from 2011) reported “partying,” a dramatic change from the 63 percent reported in 1987, when the question was first asked.
The results of the study are based upon data from 192,912 first-time, full-time students entering 283 four-year colleges and universities of varying levels of selectivity and type in the United States, according to the report.
The study points at economics being the main contributing factor behind the shift in partying among first time students, arguing that student’s perspective of the current economic situation has significantly affected their college choices.
“Students have figured out that increased lifetime earnings result from a college education,” Sylvia Hurtado, director of the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies said in a statement. “It is important to continue to encourage a long-term view of the benefits of college in this recovering economy.”
The study also reported other findings in the report such as a gap between expectations and outcomes of incoming college students.
The vast majority (84.3%) of incoming first-year students believe that they will graduate from college in four years. This will likely only come true for approximately half of them, as they are attending schools that on average only graduate 40.6% of their students in four years, the report states.
To view the full findings from the study, click here.
