Current Events
Jacob Nord
4/14/09
How the Recession Is Changing Students’ College Plans
8:57 PM
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/04/08/how-the-recession-is-changing-students-college-plans.html

This article is about the changing plans of college students due to the recession. The basis of the noticed change is based off a survey that states that about 70 percent of prospective college students are forced to change their plans due to the nature of the economic times that we live in. The survey drew from 1030 households from all 50 states. Twenty-eight percent said that the recession did not affect their plans for enrollment in college, and 17 percent of parents stated that they were “very familiar” with the financial aid available to them. An upwards amount from the previous year’s survey stated that the financial cost of a college would determine their choice of institutions this year, 16 percent from 12 percent.
I think that it is rather unfortunate that this turn of events is dictating where students must choose to go to college. Ideally, students would have no limiting factors on where they decided to go to college, such a system exists in countries like Sweden and Norway but does not exist for the U.S. Hopefully, President Obama will follow through with his promises for change for the nation’s schools and universities and increase financial aid for deserving and needing students. If we are not able to afford to give our students a decent education then our position as a world power will be undermined and threatened.