According to a news report from nydailynews.com, “Growing numbers of the city’s college students are battling the recession by starting their own businesses.”

“Students are doing a cost-benefit analysis and seeing their risk as a 22-year-old is relatively low,” said Donna Rapaccioli, dean of Fordham’s College of Business Administration, where Goldstein got her bachelor’s degree,” said the story. “To be sure, there are hurdles to heading straight to a startup from campus amid a downturn. Customers are tight-fisted and small business loans are tough to get.”

E.C.O.

“Invented generations ago, the lowly pizza box has barely changed over the decades. But as society focuses on reuse and recycling, it was time for an update,” according to the article. “Jennifer Wright‘s new business, Environmentally Conscious Organization, or e.c.o., produces a patented pizza box made of recycled paper. “By using recycled material, we’re preserving trees,” she said. The top of the reusable box splits into four paper plates, and the bottom folds into a container for leftovers. Torn apart, the pieces fit easily into a recycling bin. The new Columbia MBA grad was an analyst of leveraged loans, but quit her job when the credit markets got shaky. The 38-year-old Upper West Sider went to school to learn how to launch a business. She has two partners who expect to start filling orders this summer. They see considerable market potential: Americans use billions of pizza boxes every year.”