The gender gap in higher education favoring women over men is leveling off, according to a recent report.
The American Council on Education’s report, “Gender Equity in Higher Education,” found that male college enrollment, which was trending downward during the past two decades, has stopped declining. The only exception is Latino men, who have continued to fall further behind their female peers.
According to the report, male college enrollment and graduation have stabilized at 43 percent. The gap grew steadily during the 1990s, but since 2000 it has remained relatively steady, the report found.
“It’s promising, but until we start to see the gap shrink, I don’t think we can call it good news,” the study’s author, Jacqueline E. King, said.
Oregon, though, has a somewhat more narrow gap. According to the Oregon University System’s fall report, 47 percent of enrolled students statewide were male. The University of Oregon’s male enrollment for the fall was 49 percent.
King said the national gender gap was most pronounced for low-income students, students of color and students older than 25. The gender gap in older students is particularly striking. Females comprise about two-thirds of undergraduates over the age of 25.
As for the reasons for the gender gap, King said there’s “a lot of controversy about why it exists.”
Economic, cultural and educational factors are the three most prevalent explanations. King tends to emphasize the economic incentives that might contribute to the gap.
“One thing most people agree on is the labor market plays an important role,” King said. “Women who only have a high school diploma make very low wages, on average. The wages of men who only have a high school diploma aren’t fantastic either, but they’re better.”
King said this could add more of an incentive for men to remain at their jobs, rather than enroll in college.
But King also said cultural aspects are at play.
“We tend to find that women are more comfortable with going back to college later in life,” she said.
Grace Holmes, director of the Nontraditional Student Union, said cultural factors made it difficult for older men to enroll in college.
“Because of certain roles, men are expected to be successful,” she said. “You have to accept vulnerability to say, ‘I need help.’”
Jonathan Morton, a member of the Nontraditional Student Union, agreed, saying it was “very difficult emotionally” to return to college.
“As a single, 38-year old male parent, it was really hard to come back to school,” he said. “There’s a big social stigma in that people feel like you should already know what you’re doing.”
Although Oregon’s gender gap is below average, it does share one trend with the nationwide statistics: Latinos lag behind the rest of the Oregon population in college enrollment and degree attainment.
According to OUS data, Latinos make up 11.3 percent of Oregon’s population, yet they only account for 4.4 percent of the OUS bachelor’s degree recipients in the 2008-09 school year.
The gender gap between male and female Latino university students in the state, 43 percent to 57 percent, remains close to the national figures, with males at 42 percent.
Part of the problem, at least in Oregon, is K-12 education, where Latino graduation rates are also lower than average.
“We’re spending more money on sending people to prison than sending them to school,” Lidiana Soto, a member of the Multicultural Center, said. “Public school education is failing a lot of people, particularly Latino males.”

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