As the recession took hold of the U.S. economy in late 2008, Americans did what they often do in bad economic times: went back for more schooling. That's why the last report from the federal government about college and university enrollments showed a sharp increase (of 7.1 percent) in the number of students in postsecondary institutions in fall 2009.
On Tuesday, the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics reported initial data on the number of students who enrolled the following fall, in 2010. The data show enrollments growing yet again, but at a somewhat slower pace, with about 21.6 million students enrolled in fall 2010, up 2.8 percent from a shade under 21 million in 2009.
