The number of graduating high school students peaked at 3.3 million in 2009 while at the same time the recession made it more difficult for families to afford colleges, according to the National Association of College Admissions Counselors most recent annual report. Twenty-nine percent of colleges report a drop in applications in 2009. The 2010 application numbers will be necessary to determine if the trend of declining numbers of applications was short-term or will continue to grow. In response for the 2010 application season, more colleges are turning back to early action/decision to guarantee freshmen enrollment targets are met.