(FORTUNE Small Business) – Dropping out of school to start a business became as much a dot-com-era cliché as trying to become the next Bill Gates. Now, thanks to economic uncertainty, dropping back into school to launch a company is becoming a more likely rite of passage for future entrepreneurs. More than 1,000 colleges and universities now offer at least one entrepreneurship class, representing an increase of about 30% since 1999, says George Solomon, an associate professor at George Washington University's School of Business and the author of the recently released National Survey of Entrepreneurship. The appeal of the courses can be measured in dollars. A survey of more than 2,000 University of Arizona graduates found that those who had studied entrepreneurship earned 27% more annually—a difference of about $12,561 on average—than MBAs who had not done so. All told, the entrepreneurship students' personal assets were worth 62% more.

Many schools are launching business plan contests to give students experience in raising capital. The plans are more than academic exercises. The winners of our second annual business plan contest, the FSB Student Showdown, already had funding or clients, or both.

To find the teams, FSB invited winners of universities' internal business plan contests to compete against teams from schools across the nation in an all-star competition. It wasn't easy for our panel of experts to choose the winners from the 58 entries that arrived from 45 schools. They ranged from biomedical companies to a team from the University of North Carolina that wants to sell tacos in India.

Vertebration, from Ohio State University, won the $50,000 first prize with a new implant for spinal surgery. Harvard Business School's Extend Fertility, winner of our $10,000 second prize, helps young women freeze their eggs. Seahorse Power, from Babson College's MBA program, claimed the $5,000 third prize for a plan to sell solar-powered trash compactors.

How these teams ultimately fare will depend on their execution. But, armed with practical training, they are now well prepared for the challenges that await entrepreneurs beyond the campus. —ELAINE POFELDT