Continuing a trend of dour news for media outlets around the country, a growing number of student papers are cutting issues, cutting staff salaries and pushing more content online.

This week alone, the Georgia Southern University student paper, the George-Anne, and the University of Minnesota student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, announced plans for serious changes moving into second semester. At Georgia Southern University, the cuts are primarily being attributed to a desire to restructure the paper; The George Anne, which has seen dropping grades and staff counts, eventually plans to resume publication five days a week when that is again sustainable.

The Minnesota Daily, however, attributes its cuts directly to the economy and the fact that the paper's revenues were headed 30 to 35 percent below budget for the year if no changes were made.

Cutting Fridays--the least-read and least-advertised day--will save about $10,000 a month in printing costs, co-publisher John Scholz told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "This was our way of thinking for the future and the sustainability of the Daily as a news organization, moving it online," the paper's editor in chief Vadim Lavrusik told the Star-Tribune.

The Minnesota Daily, like many of the papers facing difficulties, will continue to publish its Friday issue online reflecting an awareness that the future of journalism is on the internet.

Earlier this year, the Daily Californian at the University of California at Berkeley and the Daily Orange at Syracuse University each announced a similar decision to cut publication from five to four days.

Despite the depressing news, students seem no less likely to express a desire to go into journalism. According to the Albany Times-Union, a record number of undergraduates are studying journalism at the national level right now--nearly 200,000 undergraduates as of 2007, up from 130,000 in 1995.

"I go to meetings and all I hear is, 'Oh my God, they just keep coming and coming,' " Judy VanSlyke Turk, president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, told the Times-Union. She added, "I'm really not sure they understand how competitive the job market is."

Bright Hall explores the far-reaching effects of the financial crisis on the youth and campuses of America. Click here for the full series.