Cooperative education in the early 1930s faced difficulties because of the financial crisis. The students enrolled at Northeastern during the Great Depression (1929-1939) possessed a generally pessimistic view of their opportunities due to the recession. Because of these economical barriers, The Northeastern News reported many faculty responses that the Depression was making it difficult to motivate students on co-op. In his interview with the News, one student also commented that the cost of sending students to college is growing, despite rising general unemployment. At the Depression’s peak in 1933, 24.9% of America’s workforce was unemployed; Co-op students were not the only ones looking for work. Additionally, many co-op students relied on their co-op to pay for or at least supplement tuition costs. Due to these two factors coinciding, co-op became less popular and attainable for many Northeastern students. In the News, one Northeastern implied as much, “At present co-operative jobs sound something like myths to many of us, yet there are a few upperclassmen who still persist in holding such position; and in several cases, the experiences are of great interest as well as being amusing occasionally.” The vast majority of students who found work were white men in the engineering field. Most job opportunities required physical and strenuous labor in the fire stations, plants, and steel foundries around potentially hazardous materials and working conditions, work society proclaimed as best fit for men.

In an analysis of the sophomore experience, writers exalt co-op as “a system of education with a foundation of practical work which cannot be surpassed.” They urged sophomores during that time to “not whine and complain” about their circumstances during the Depression, and to “take it on the chin and come back for more.” As an experienced businessman, President Frank P. Speare also encouraged students towards co-op by giving a speech: “It is only the young, intelligent, and ambitious who can meet the cycles of depression…without serious handicap.” Though their advice seems a bit harsh, there was a big emphasis on the honor of a man relating to the importance of his work and education during that decade. In an article reflecting on the values of Northeastern, one faculty member stated that “money makes man rich, pleasure makes man happy, but it is work and work alone that makes man great—great in the eyes of all.”

In the latter half of the post-Depression decade, Northeastern University focused on developing the cooperative education system. Upperclassmen were grouped in Division A or B with each man from one division paired with a man from another. They would take turns between classroom learning and work for a total of 20 weeks in class, 26 weeks at the co-op, and 6 weeks of vacation. Co-op coordinators contacted firms and arranged positions for students. Compared to during the Depression, students attending school around 1938-1939 could find jobs and were paid $12 per week for second years, $14 per week for third years, and $16 per week for fourth and fifth years. Though the document says they were paid at a low rate, their total income after co-op (for a second year: $12*26 weeks = $31 would surpass what they paid in tuition ($250 per year).