There was joke in our newsroom about the paper sponsoring a journalism scholarship.

None of us wanted to deal with the guilt sending a student into journalism.

But according to 2008 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments, the well publicized impending demise of our industry isn't killing enrollment at J-schools just yet, although grads are having a tougher time than ever finding work.

Enrollments in U.S. journalism and mass communication programs actually increased by 0.8 percent last fall compared to a year earlier. The rate is actually higher than the growth rate from 2005 to 2006, when the industry didn't appear in such dire straits.

Here's some highlights of the survey (a PDF of the full report is attached):

• Enrollment at the freshman and sophomore levels both declined in 2008 compared with a year earlier. That's the same observation for 2007. That statistic suggests that journalism schools will see a growth rate in enrollments slow down in the next few years.
• Journalism and mass communication programs granted an estimated 55,056 degrees in academic year 2007-2008, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier and the largest number ever granted by journalism and mass communication programs in the U.S.
• The number of bachelor's degrees granted was 50,559, representing an increase of 1.3 percent from a year earlier. Master's degrees increased by 12.9 percent and doctoral degrees by 43 percent.
• The number of full-time faculty teaching in U.S. journalism and mass communication programs increased by nearly 300, to 6,804 in the autumn of 2008 from 6,550 a year earlier. The number of part-time faculty, at the same time, dropped by more than 362, from 5,341 to 4,979. Almost four in 10 of the nation's journalism and mass communications programs reported having some kind of hiring freeze in place in the 2008-2009 academic year.

While journalism schools kept up their numbers, the job outlook for grads was kind of bleak.

Only six in 10 of the graduates had full-time employment within six to eight months after graduation, according to the survey, the lowest level in 23 years of reporting. Average salaries were about the same for 2008 graduates as 2007 grads.

The survey is put together by the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, at the University of Georgia.

Among the many corporate, educational and organizational sponsors of the survey are the American Society of News Editors, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Newspaper Association of America and the Society of Professional Journalists.