MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- There's good news out this week for university students as they return to classes for the spring semester.
Students at Tennessee State University returned to class Monday. Students at Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee State, and Austin Peay State head back to classes on Thursday. Vanderbilt, Belmont, Lipscomb and Trevecca all got their spring semesters underway last week.
A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts says that while the recession was hard on university graduates, they still fared much better than young people without a college degree.
Pew researcher Diana Elliott says employment for Americans 21 to 24 years of age fell 16 percent during the recession, with six out of ten in that age bracket currently unemployed.
“This is in contrast to those who had a college degree. Sixty-nine percent were employed (prior to the economic downturn) and had a seven percent decline in their employment as a consequence of the recession.”
The Pew study also indicates Tennessee's public universities bucked national college enrollment trends during the recession. Enrollment numbers rose significantly at public school in the state during the downturn, while college enrollment fell in the nation as a whole.