WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
Women in College Photo by Theo Anderson, Alvernia University
R
ecent data from the National Student Clearing House, an educational nonprofit that provides education reporting and research, shows that the U.S. now has the largest gender gap in college students. In the 2020-21 school year, females made up 61 percent of the four-year private college student population, the highest of all time and the gap, according to experts, continues to widen. This is a significant shift in data from 1970 where the National Center for Education Statistics found that men made up 57 to 59 percent of those enrolled in college, compared to approximately 41 percent of women.
Additional data from National Student Clearinghouse shows that: • For the 2021-22 school year, 3,805,978 women applied to college compared to only 2,815,810 men. • Higher education institutions have 1.5 million fewer students today than they did five years ago, and men make up 71% of that decline. Many experts, including Mary-Alice Ozechoski, Senior Vice President for Enrollment and Student Affairs at Alvernia University, aren’t surprised by the recent data citing that U.S. women have earned more bachelor’s degrees than men since the mid-1980s but have an increased interest in the “why?”
36 Women2Women | Winter 2022
There are several possibilities experts have considered including: • girls spend more time studying in elementary school and are less likely to “get in trouble,” • boys in this age group are more likely to be held back and have trouble learning to read, • girls are more likely to graduate from high school than male counterparts and • opportunities for well-paying jobs for men without a degree leading them to skip additional educational opportunities after high school. “Over the course of my 30-year career there has been a push for men to attend technical and trade schools,” Ms. Ozechoski said. “These programs can be completed in less time and offer good pay. Those factors are very enticing.” Alvernia University closely tracks their enrollment numbers and develops strategies to create a balance, including gender, in admissions. Their current enrollment is 54 percent female and 46 percent male. Diversity in the programs and majors offered at a college and university can play a role in the gender of applicants. For example, Alvernia offers a criminal justice program and recently added several engineering programs, both currently with more male students while their Nursing and Occupational
