Economic crisis sends students down different academic paths
April Robertson
Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: News
College students seem to choose majors more carefully in the face of an economic crisis.Ten years ago, the most popular majors at the UA included childhood education, psychology and accounting.
Now, however, the focus is on health science degrees - a smart shift, as the Department of Labor predicts an increase of about 30 percent over the next four years in the number of available health jobs. In other words, as many as 4.7 million jobs could be accessible to students with the relevant degrees.
Baby boomers are likely responsible for that increase in job availability.
According to the American Heart Association, boomers are living longer than past generations as a result of measles and polio vaccines, as well as radical heart surgeries. And despite their higher life expectancy - or perhaps because of it - the boomers also have more chronic diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes, so they are more likely to make use of health care services.
Health sciences are a good direction for students during this time, said Geoffery Jensen, a graduate student and instructor of World Civilizations.
Jensen explained that a long series of events has lead to a dire need for more doctors and workers in the health care systems.
"Retirements, frivolous lawsuits, insanely high insurance premiums and the overall poor condition of the health care system have reduced the amount of practicing doctors in our country," he said.
Jensen also encouraged students to keep an eye on the way Congress and the President deal with health care in the country.
Students at the UA already have gravitated toward health science majors. The most popular majors at the UA in 2008 were kinesiology with 599 students, nursing with 560 students and biology with 542 students.
Patsy Watkins, the chair of the UA journalism department, said students searching for practical majors that will be most likely to provide jobs in the future "should research their field, talk to professors and take the skills you have and decide where to put them."
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