Weak U.S. economy influencing college choices

BOSTON - Nearly 70 percent of graduating American high school students say the economic downturn has directly influenced where they applied to college, a study released on Wednesday showed.
About 38 percent of those students said they had applied to colleges with lower tuition than they would have otherwise, while 34 percent applied to schools they were confident they could afford, according to the Princeton Review, a test-preparatory firm.
The survey of 12,715 college applicants comes as the United States faces one of the worst economic downturns since the 1930s.
About 28 percent of the students said they were applying to "schools closer to home" to save on travel costs, while 85 percent said financial aid -- education loans, scholarships or grants -- will be extremely or very necessary.
The survey also asked students and parents to name their "dream college" if cost were not a factor. Students picked Stanford University and the parents chose Harvard University.
The survey can be found here. (Reuters)