With the economy still reeling from the worst global recession since the Great Depression, many universities and colleges have forecasted a drop in their applications for college admissions, especially the early ones. But James S. Miller, the dean of admissions at Brown University, was surprised when his office received nearly 500 more early applications this fall than it did last year, when the economic downturn was just beginning, a big increase of 20%.

Miller figured this could be the year that the demand for the university’s binding early-decision programs might begin to decrease. He was wrong.

“I wish I knew the answer why,” Mr. Miller comments. “The university president asked me, and I told her I just don’t know.”

Other prestigious universities have experienced a similar increase in early admissions. Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth all said that they too have received an increase in the amount of early admissions for their early-decision programs. These early-decision programs would require high school students to discontinue all of their pending applications when admitted and enter the university that had granted them early acceptance.

Jon Reider, director of college counseling at San Francisco University High School and a former admissions officer at Stanford, said that the fear of not getting into these prestigious institutions is a trump card. This fear, he further adds, has a stronger pull on the students than the fact that many universities are no longer able to provide aid to promising but financially challenged students.

Despite this trend, not everyone experienced an increase in their early-admission programs. Yale and Williams saw a drop in their early applications. While early-decision candidates are some of the most talented and financially flush students, the increase in early-decision applications did not necessarily result in a surge of offers for admission. The belt tightening continues even for the most prestigious institutions in the United States.