Katie Smith, senior political science major, always wanted to go to graduate school. As she sat in Neptune Central the other day, the economy melting all around her, Smith was as happy with her decision as ever.

“Maybe things will change by the time I get a job,” Smith said, who was accepted to NIU’s graduate school last week.

Applications for graduate schools, including NIU’s, are up nationwide.

With the country in the midst of a severe economic recession, students such as Smith are opting to stay in school until the job market improves. And some Americans with bachelor’s degrees who are out of work are going back to school to get graduate degrees.

“During the period of economic downturn, applications to graduate school increase,” said economics professor Khan Mohabbat. “Some college graduates who do not find acceptable jobs go to graduate schools. Those college graduates who have lost their jobs due to recession, may not accept downward diversification by moving from a high paying job to a less productive activity.”

At NIU, applications to the graduate school for fall 2009 are up 25 percent compared to fall 2008, said Bradley Bond, associate dean of the graduate school. Nationally, the increases haven’t been as dramatic; they’ve been in the 2 to 10 percent range, Bond said.

“The only conclusions to be drawn from NIU’s data are ambiguous,” Bond said. “Either the economy in Chicagoland is worse than other regional economies, or NIU’s graduate programs and graduate school are doing a good job at attracting applicants. I’d like to think the latter is true.”

For comparison’s sake, undergraduate applications have increased 2 percent over last year, while transfer applications are down 10 percent compared to last year, said admissions director Bob Burk.

While no one is glad the economy is in recession, Smith would like to think it will make her feel better about all the time and money she spends to put herself through graduate school.

“It’s not like I’m going now because of the economy,” she said. “But it doesn’t hurt.”