How badly is the economy affecting college students?

According to a recent article in the New York Times the recent financial crisis is affecting students ability to pay for college. Federal loans account for 3/4 of student borrowing and the government assured to keep money flowing by buying those loans even with fewer companies in business but often times these loans are not enough to cover the entire tuition. With an increased rate of unemployment and the threat of recession gripping the country, many more families are expecting to need student loans this year. The number of applications for federal aid so far this year has risen to 13.5 million, up nearly 10 percent from 12.3 million from last year. One way that students and parents are paying the extra cost of tuition is by purchasing PLUS loans, which are the same as Stafford loans but are signed in the parents name. However many students do not qualify for PLUS loans and must resort to borrowing from relatives or private lenders who are becoming hard to recieve due to the financial crisis. Although colleges have taken many measures to make tuition more affordable, such as converting loans to grants and allowing tuition cuts to families making certain amounts, the financial crisis has placed a bump in the road and outweighed the amount of help colleges can provide. Hopefully the next elected president can help get our economy back on track so that not only student loans, but stock markets, government funding, and everything else affected by the failure of the economy can get back to normal and work more efficiently.