Admissions Up Despite Lending Trouble

The economic downturn and uncertainty in the lending market don't seem to be hurting enrollment at Massachusetts colleges and universities, at least not yet.

UMass saw an eight percent increase in applications for the fall semester. Boston University saw a 10 percent increase. Northeastern had almost 36,000 applicants for their 2,800 freshman spaces.

But Northeastern admissions dean Ronne Patrick-Turner says there's always a chance some students could end up not showing up because they can't secure loans.

"I don't think the economy had that much of effect on our applicant pools at this point. But we still won't know until our students move in September, we won't know if that's had an effect on enrollment."

The picture could change next year, admissions officers at UMass say they expect to see their applications for Fall 2010 spike as more students opt for public schools.