Previous dips in enrolment at private schools have also lagged behind recessions, as prospective parental customers, rather than those already locked in, decide they cannot afford it.
Doubts remained as to Cecil's academic preparedness for enrolment at Oxford University – when, in 1870, a letter arrived from one of Cecil's older brothers, Herbert.
Now, the beauty of auto enrolment, which is now ten years old, is that we're automatically nudged into making payments into a company pension now in the UK.
" That's actually a big driver of this completion movement because enrolments are not going up, " says Patrick Methvin of the Gates Foundation, which has funded research in the field.
Enrolment has been rising for decades, egged on by parents, presidents of both political stripes (not to mention Mr Santorum, when a senator) and the rising wage premium that college graduates command.
Previous studies usually had just one way of linking education with economic growth - the presence of schools and printing presses, perhaps, or school enrolment, or the ability to sign names.