The latest recession will probably be seen as a turning point for college and university financing. Indeed, the initial reaction by many youths to soaring unemployment was to stay in or return to college to wait out the bad times and get better prepared to face a tough job market. For-profit and community colleges have been especially attractive, and in the fall of 2011, there were 22 percent more students enrolled in the nation’s 1,200 community colleges than in the fall of 2007. Nevertheless, less than half graduate. Also, those now leaving college are finding few jobs. Only 54 percent of those age 18 to 24 are employed, the lowest share since data began to be collected in 1948, and the unemployment- rate gap between this demographic group and all working-age adults is the widest on record. Only 49 percent of graduates from the classes of 2009 to 2011 found jobs within their first year out of school, compared with 73 percent of those who graduated three years earlier. About 54 percent of bachelor’s- degree holders under 25, or about 1.5 million people, were jobless or underemployed last year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-24/how-recession-will-change-university-financing.html
