Last month, the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA released the results of their annual “Freshman Survey.”  The survey is distributed to freshmen students all over the country and this year’s results show that the economy has “deeply impacted” freshmen students.  Not only are more students going to be dependent on loans, but they are also placing more emphasis on obtaining financially stable jobs after graduation.
InsideHigherEd.com also published a summary of the results.  The summary points out that students are turning away from business as a major.  From 2008 to 2009 the number of students planning to major in business fell from 16.8 percent to 14.4 percent, which is the lowest it has been since 1974.
This information corresponds with our recent post:  “Majors and the Jobs of the Future“, where students are learning that they need to have multiple skills in order to obtain jobs in the future.  This is another sign that the economic downturn is going to impact students for years to come.
Katherine Price
Educational Consultant