Goals of college students: some gender differences

College Student Journal, Dec, 2003 by Deborah Abowitz, David Knox

Implications

University faculty will not be surprised at the higher rating given by women to relationship goals. But they may be surprised at the higher value given by women than men to being well educated. College men, in general, are still likely to be perceived as more career-oriented and more focused on higher education than college women, especially in the still male-dominated ranks of college faculty. However, other data support the importance women in the current study espouse for education. In their annual survey of over 280,000 undergraduates in 421 four-year institutions, 79 percent of the women (in contrast to 74 percent of the men) estimated that they would get a bachelor's degree (American Council on Education and the University of California, 2001). Women were also more likely to estimate that they would graduate with at least a "B" average (58% vs. 54%).

Faculty and administrators might well be aware of the increased value that women place on education and the attendant implications for curriculum offerings, such as greater interest in programs in women's studies. But the changing composition of their national constituency (the increasing feminization of the undergraduate population) and the demonstrable importance of the personal/relationship goals among college women suggest we need to think beyond these obvious elements of college life. We also need to rethink advising systems and academic support programs. More than just the curricula and the bricks and mortar of our higher educational institutions were originally shaped to meet the needs, interests, and social interaction styles of male undergraduates as the "universal" college students. The typical college student is no longer male in this country and the somewhat different goals and needs of female undergraduates, who highly value their education but who also emphasize social relationships as priorities, must be more fully considered and addressed.

Undergraduate university men need also be aware that college women today make their education a priority--their desire to be well educated is second only to their desire for love and happiness and quite distinct from their desire for marriage and children. Women no longer expect to delay or defer their own educational pursuits for their partner's. Indeed, as one student said, "He's already got a job, so he can keep working while I get my master's degree."

Table 1

General Student Life Goals

General Student Life Goals
N = 154

Life Goals (with no time frame)     Mean (s.d.)

Being happy                        1.08 (0.29)
Being in love                      1.50 (0.81)
Being well educated                1.53 (0.68)
Having a fulfilling job            1.66 (0.67)
Having romance                     1.79 (0.82)
Being financially secure           1.84 (0.77)
Getting married                    1.90 (1.00)
Having children                    2.03 (1.01)
Being cultured                     2.35 (0.98)
Having nice things                 2.58 (0.86)

Table 2

Post Graduation Student Life Goals

N = 154

Life Goals (after graduation)      Mean (s.d.)

  Close friends                    1.48 (0.62)
  Life partner or spouse           1.51 (0.83)
  Relatives                        1.56 (0.74)
  Family of my own                 1.59 (0.87)
  Career and work                  1.59 (0.67)
  Free time/relaxation             1.87 (0.71)
  Lot of social acquaintances      2.71 (0.92)
  Ties to religion                 3.05 (l.31)
  Role in public life              3.74 (l.00)