Enrollment increases

Due to the slow-moving economy, graduate and professional programs have seen a tremendous surge in applications over the past year. State and federal governments should embrace this trend by increasing funding to graduate and professional programs.\nIn a Jan. 24 New York Times article, "Many Ride Out The Recession in a Graduate School Harbor," Yilu Zhao reported that the Emory University business school has seen an 80 percent increase in applications since December 2001. UCLA has seen a 90 percent jump in the past year. University of Chicago reported a 100 percent increase. Yale Law School applicants have increased by 57 percent. 47 percent more people have applied to Vanderbilt, and engineering and education schools report similar trends.\nMost people want to make themselves more marketable, but even more so they want to put themselves in positions that are less-affected by the boom-bust cycles of the economy. Although the number of applicants to colleges and universities may return to normal as the economy revives, job security will always remain the desired goal of many. Increased state and government spending for higher education programs can help insure that the opportunity to achieve that goal is available.\nIn a Feb. 15 Chronicle of Higher Education article, "Professional-School Enrollments Boom as Many Parts of the Economy Tank," Katherine Mangan found that law, business, nursing, pharmacy and engineering are some of the programs that are beginning to see an increase after years of stagnating or declining applicants.\nA few years ago, anyone with a small amount of computer knowledge could easily find a high-paying job. But according to Mangan, after the fall out of the inflated tech sector, people are returning their focus to job security and realistic career goals because the quick and easy money has disappeared.\nEmployment is currently on the rise and the economy is slowly beginning to rejuvenate. The recession of the past year and the increased numbers returning to college may provide the U.S. workforce with what the creative, but overly the idealistic, dot-com era lacked: Wisdom. \nThe technological boom of the late nineties may well have been a glimpse into the future. The need for people with computer engineering skills will not go away. In fact, it will most likely increase dramatically as the economy resuscitates. If the shortage of computer engineers is filled, tech stocks may again rise to record prices.\nEven so, Americans should not discount the continuing need for the other skilled individuals that technology visionaries seemed to forget about -- writers, nurses, doctors, lawyers and educators, to name a few. As Mangan points out in her article, many of these people, especially in the nursing and education fields, are growing toward retirement and their positions need to be filled. Colleges and universities remain as the means by which individuals can gain the skills to do so.\nNow is the time for both the state and federal governments to make good on their promises that education is a top priority.\nStaff vote: 8 - 2 - 0\nyes - no - abstain