Women Now at the Head of the Class, Lead Men in College Attainment

By Kurt Bauman and Camille Ryan, U.S. Census Bureau

In 1940, under 5 percent of the U.S. population held a bachelor’s degree. Men, at 5.5 percent, were more likely than women at 3.8 percent, to have a college education. Although the 1.7 percentage point gap may appear small, it was big relative to the portion of women with bachelor’s degrees (it would have taken a 45 percent increase among women for them to match men).

Now, nearly 75 years after the Census Bureau began collecting these statistics, the educational attainment of our population has increased to 30 percent -and the gender balance has shifted. For the first time since measurement began in 1940, women were more likely than men to have a bachelor’s degree.

Read the story here.

CBC Panel Takes Aim at Disparity in College Degree Attainment

By Catherine Morris, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

At the start of the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual legislative conference, a panel, Access to Opportunity: Propelling Black Students, explored the disparity in college degree attainment between Black students and students of other races.

The panel, which was moderated by Autumn Arnett (a senior staff writer at Diverse), identified a number of the key issues that are preventing Black students from earning postsecondary degrees. An NCES survey found that, in 2013, overall 40 percent of 25 to 29 year olds had a college degree, but only 20 percent of Black 25 to 29 years olds did.

Read the story here.

Women Almost Match Men in Earning Bachelor's Degrees, Census Finds

The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Jill Laster
April 20, 2010

Women have nearly caught up to their male counterparts in achieving at least a bachelor's degree, according to data released on Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
About 29 percent of women 25 and older had attained at least a bachelor's degree in 2009, compared with 30 percent of men. A decade earlier, the proportions were 23 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
The census data are part of an annual survey measuring national educational attainment that the agency has conducted since 1947. This year's report on the data used a sampling of 100,000 addresses gathered as part of the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
The pattern of women's academic achievement outdoing men's, on average, goes back more than a decade, and is now expressing itself in the awarding of both undergraduate and graduate degrees. According to the newly reported data, young women have widened the gap in achieving postsecondary degrees in the past decade. In 2009, 35 percent of women ages 25 to 29 held at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 27 percent of men. A decade earlier, the numbers were much closer: 30 percent versus 27 percent.

Full Story: http://chronicle.com/article/Women-Almost-Match-Men-in/65179/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en (Subscription may be needed)