At most colleges, applications are up, and enrollments are up. The problem is that many colleges took a huge hit to their endowments or their funding, so they are cutting budgets while, at the same time, taking in more students than normal. This means that a lot of colleges are cutting things that don't impact student's education, in attempts to save money. So what you'll end up seeing is more leaking roofs, or, in very bad cases, more students in a classroom as they cut class sections (they still offer the class, but not at as many different times, for example.) Colleges will also start giving priority enrollment in certain classes to students in the major, so they can make sure the students who need the class get it, but they may no longer offer enough sections of the class to accommodate every non-major who wants to take it. Colleges are doing everything in their power to give a good education to their students, so they tend to focus their cuts on things like physical plant, maintenance, buildings, etc.You'll start to see tuition go up, and additional fees introduced. Certain types of financial aid may dry up - students having to take out more loans, for example, or not having 100% of their need met.This is based on what I'm already seeing, and my experiences from the last major recession back in the late 1980s/early 1990s.