When the economy stalls, demand for college typically rises as the unemployed decide to go back to school to improve their job prospects. 

In the last recession, the number of students who enrolled in college jumped by almost 2.5 million, or nearly 16 percent, from 15.6 million undergraduate students in the fall of 2007 to a peak of 18.1 million students in the fall of 2010. Most of the increase was driven by older adults. 

With a new recession looming, will history repeat itself?

How can we help?

That simple question is spurring a flurry of activity among students, faculty, staff and university administrators who have looked for ways to assist health-care workers in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it’s repurposing university-owned equipment to decontaminate N95 masks, mixing hand sanitizer in chemistry labs for use by hospitals, collecting supplies of personal protective equipment, or babysitting health-care workers’ children, professionals in higher education and the students they serve are finding all kinds of ways to help.