Most of my readers know that colleges have been graduating far more women than men. The admissions data for the male/female ratio seems to have stopped rising before reaching the high 50% range for women more than 15 years ago.
In talking to my friends in academia who are involved in enrollment and admissions, they say there has been a rule of thumb for some time: men will avoid any campus where they see the ratio exceeds 3 women to 2 men.
The consequence is that admissions officers keep the admissions numbers below that level but have no control over the graduation ratio. Men drop out at a much higher rate than women.
Additionally, I’m told, to attract more men requires expansion of the technology, engineering and computer sciences departments.
Many people speculate on the causes for this phenomenon and the social consequences. I do not have a simple explanation. In a society where the service and health industries are a growing proportion of employment I do not find this academic trend surprising.
Since I do not consider college or university to be important to business except in the fields where men are focusing, I see little long-term impact.