Economic crises are a recurrent phenomenon in American society, yet there is little knowledge of the impacts on educational opportunity. Using data from a large high school district as a case study, this research explores the impact of the Great Recession (2007-2009) on high school senior graduation rates in an area at the epicenter of the Recession. A logistic regression model with cluster robust standard errors is developed to estimate the recession's impact on student subgroups' graduation rates between the periods 2004-2013 for maximum variation. Results show that students who are historically "at-risk" experienced significant declines in graduation rates at the beginning of the recession in 2008. The decline is followed by a steep increase in graduation rates beginning in 2009, largely driven by increases for the most disadvantaged groups. These results suggest that the recession created a counter-cyclical demand for education.