A surprising decline in the number of people taking the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) has sparked stories in both the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) and Inside Higher Ed (free).

For those who don’t know, the GRE is the basic admissions test required of nearly everyone who applies for graduate school in the states. According to Educational Testing Services, which administers the test, the number of people expected to take the exam is expected to drop from 633,000 in 2007 to between 621,000 and 625,000 by the end of 2008.

Now such a small decline might not seem all that alarming, but educators are taking note. Graduate applications have risen during previous recessions, presumably because unemployed workers returned to school to further their education. The fact that they’re not this time around is the subject of some speculation. David Payne, a vice president at ETS, suggests that personal wealth is down and individuals are feeling the pain. Debra Stewart, who heads the Council of Graduate Schools, thinks that the credit crunch is making it more difficult for people to borrow to fund their studies.

Regardless, it’s another sign that the current recession is different from the others. And Stewart for one says that she is “very worried” about the financial stability of higher education in the US.

See also

US colleges likely to feel the pinch – November 14

Harvard gets credit crunched – November 11