The tides of chance will splash everybody with a little bad luck from time to time. But a tsunami of economic troubles and unfortunate demographics is deluging the nation’s 3.3 million high school seniors. The class of ’08 may well be the unluckiest group of high school grads in modern history. They are certainly the largest senior class ever, which means they face far worse chances of getting into a selective college than their older—or younger—brothers and sisters. Indeed, they are opening a record number of thin college rejection letters right now.

And the joy of thick acceptance letters is increasingly soured by record-high tuition prices, while unprecedented collapses in real estate values and credit markets have diminished the funds that many families expected would cover their costs.

[Read](http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/paying-for-college/2008/04/10/competition-is-tough.html “Read the Article”) (US News and World Report)