"Record numbers of college students are lining up for financial aid - and asking for more of it - as the nation's economic woes hit campuses across the country," San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Nationally, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms during the first half of 2008, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period last year. 'It does show a pretty dramatic increase,' said Justin Draeger, a spokesman for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. The need for financial aid has been rising in the past few years, he said, but given the slumping economy, it is not surprising that it is more acute this year."