College admissions offices are reporting sizable increases in the number of applications they are receiving this year in the wake of the current economic slowdown and spate of layoffs, according to USA Today.
Some schools are reported increases of between 10 and 40 percent over last year. Much of the rise is being attributed to workers trying upgrade their skills, the newspaper reported.
"The job market is still really good, but we're beginning to see layoffs, and people pay attention," Peter Syverson, vice president for research and information services at the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C. was quoted in the story. "One thing they do is go to graduate school."
The report notes the number of students registering to take the Graduate Management Admission Test, a test required of all business school applicants, jumped 14.8 percent in January compared with a year earlier.
The story cited several examples, including:
The University of Oklahoma raised admission standards for out-of-state students in an emergency measure because freshman admissions are up 45 percent from last year.
Applications to Georgetown University's business school's MBA program are up 10 percent.
Applications to Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., jumped about 11 percent.
"Students are going back because they realize they need more education to be successful," Kyden Creekpaum, 19, a freshman majoring in political science and piano performance at the University of Oklahoma, was quoted. "A couple of years ago, when there were sunny skies for dot-coms, it was a different perspective."
