Are more students applying to only 1-2 colleges this year?

Minnetonka High School college counselor Phil Trout, who's president of the Minnesota Association for College Admission Counseling, told me this morning that the economy might have prompted a growing number of students to abandon the mass-application process this year:

"I want to run this statistic. We’ve got some students who applied to fewer colleges this year. Students are picking public universities with rolling admissions where a month or six weeks after they apply they get a decision and are done. It's 'One and Done' or 'Two and Through.' We’ve got plenty of students for whom a college selection date could have been celebrated 5 months ago.

My suspicion is that we're going to have an uptick (in the number of such students.) And I think it's all financial. (Students are thinking) 'Why pay a $40-50 fee to apply to yet another college that they’re not going to go to anyway?"

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