The issue is that new applicants coming out [of] school have more experience with .NET, Java and [the] key technologies that many industries are looking for today.
=v= Not in my experience. Generally, coursework focuses on concepts and skills. Unless they've interned on a real project, students futzing with stuff like .NET rarely get beyond the tutorial level. If you're lucky, they might've taken a hobbyist's interest in it, which is a bit better.
A common pitfall at this age is to misdirect youthful enthusiasm into the latest and greatest "key technology" (like, oh let's just say .NET for example), no matter how poorly-designed it is. When you're just starting out, figuring out kludgy workarounds seems like skill-acquisition, though really it's not. But you can stay up late and generally whip up something shiny to distract the PHBs, so you're rewarded for it. Which is why software quality continues to decline.
Experienced programmers tire of that sort of thing, and the sooner the bettter.
