Gender and economic gaps grow for colleges

Higher education institutions face the problem of bridging the gender and socioeconomic gaps in enrollment but do not have an easy or simple solution, experts say.

Linda Sax, professor at the University of California at Los Angeles' Graduate School of Education and Information Science, said there are gaps across all areas of higher education.

"Women's enrollment is greater than men's enrollment," she said. "That's been a trend for many years."

According to the Digest of Education Statistics from 2003, the number of women enrolled in degree-granting institutions rose 14 percent, while the enrollment of men rose 7 percent between 1991 and 2001.

A 2004 Pell Institute publication, "Indicators of Opportunity in Higher Education," said about 13,000,000 students were enrolled in undergraduate programs in the fall of 1999, and 56 percent of those students were women.

"The issue of gender gaps cannot be studied without gaps in income," Sax said.

Research is showing an increasing gap between men and women from a low-income bracket enrolling in colleges, she said. But the difference between high-income men and women is not as great.

While the gender gap is an issue for institutions, another emerging issue is the economic gap among enrolled students.

The same Pell Institute report states that from 1999 to 2000, about 56 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were in, or had attended, college. When broken up by income level, 31 percent of low-income students and 79 percent of high-income students were in, or had attended, college.

During that time, at four-year public universities, 11 percent of students were low-income, 48 percent were middle-income and 41 percent were high-income.

The increasing economic gap is a long-term trend, Sax said. Because high-income students have more preparation and training for college, they are more likely to enroll in higher education.

Students who are in low-income households, or are minorities in low-income school systems, do not have adequate preparation for enrolling in college, she said.

"They do not have a lot of college-awareness information or networks," Sax said.

Jane Glickman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, said the department has made several proposals to help students who are at risk of not graduating high school. Also, the department tries to eliminate the issues raised by the economic gap by providing need-based financial aid to students.

Experts say the issue needs to be untangled on many fronts.

"It's coming from all ends, not just from the parents and schools," Sax said.

She said colleges do not provide enough information about attending, leaving low-income students unprepared for college.

"Efforts need to begin earlier," she said. "Colleges can outreach, which is a form of training in high school and middle school, with college students explaining the value of college and what to do to become ready for college."

Alma Clayton-Pederson, vice president of education and institutional renewal for the Association of American Colleges and Universities, said she believes schools need to look more closely at how students are performing rather than at who is attending college.

"The gaps in quality need to be addressed most vigorously," she said.

She said colleges and universities need to explain to high school and middle school students what they need to succeed in education.

"I see education as one seamless endeavor, from pre-K to graduation, and we need to do well all along the continuum," Clayton-Pederson said.

"To me, the only way to do that is to communicate across various sectors. Not just talking, communicating about what we need to do to raise the bar."

 

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.