Understanding the Gender Gap in Undergraduate Enrollment

Presidency, The, Fall 2006

According to a recent report from Ace's center for Policy Analysis, family income plays a significant role in perpetuating the gender gap in undergraduate enrollment.

Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2006 reports that the gender gap diminishes among dependent undergraduates aged 24 or younger as family income rises. Among students whose families made less than $97,500 in 2003-04, females did indeed account for the majority of students. At the lowest income level (families making less than $32,500 in 2003-04), only 44 percent of all dependent undergraduates were male, and at the middle-income level (families making between $32,500 and $97,499), only 47 percent of all dependent undergraduates were male. however, as the $97,500 income plateau was surpassed, male students took the majority-across all racial/ethnic groups (see table). Fifty-two percent of all dependent undergraduates in the highest income quartile were male in 2003-04.

Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2006 aims to help campuses and the public better understand the gender gap by disaggregating trends by race/ethnicity, age, and income, in addition to gender. An update of the 2000 report, Gender Equity in Higher Education: Are Male Students at a Disadvantage?, this new report examines trends for men and women from high school graduation to graduate degree attainment. new to the 2006 report is an examination of the gender gap at different types of institutions. The report also reviews commonly offered explanations for the gender gap and includes questions to assist campus leaders in identifying if and where a gender gap exists at their institutions.

highlights from Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2006:

* The most striking change since 2000 is the widening gender gap among white and hispanic traditional-age undergraduates (aged 24 or younger), due primarily to a larger female share among low-income whites and low- and middle-income hispanics. These changes have led to an overall decline in the male share of traditional-age students, from 48 percent in 1995-96 to 45 percent in 2003-04.

* Women outnumber men by almost two to one among the 40 percent of undergraduates who are aged 25 or older.

* As in 2000, it does not appear that women's success is coming at the expense of men, but rather that women's college participation is rising faster than men's. The number of bachelor's degrees awarded to men is on the rise, as it is for women.

Jacqueline E. King, director of the Ace center for Policy Analysis, authored both reports. To purchase the 2006 report, visit Ace's online bookstore at www.acenet.edu/bookstore.