Applications to US graduate schools rose sharply as the economy slipped into recession, reports the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington DC. Applications jumped by 8.3% from 2008 to 2009, almost double the average annual increase of the past ten years, according to the CGS's 14 September report 'Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 1999–2009'. Economic recessions have long been linked with a rise in graduate-school applications, notes CGS research director Nathan Bell. Of 11 fields surveyed, the highest growth was in applications to health-sciences programmes — 14.6% over 2008–2009 — a trend Bell attributes to a growth in health services for an ageing population.