| Women had several advantages over men as they started college in the fall of 2016. Their average (self-reported) grades in high school were higher than men’s. |
| A | 59.6% | 49.6% |
| B | 38.5% | 46.9% |
| C | 2.0% | 3.5% |
| On average, they were more accustomed to hitting the books. Here’s how many hours per week they reported studying during their last year in high school. |
| One hour or less | 7.4% | 12.8% |
| One to 10 hours | 66.6% | 68.8% |
| More than 10 hours | 26.0% | 18.4% |
| The reasons that men and women deemed “very important” in deciding to go to college differed somewhat. Incoming male freshmen in the fall of 2016 were more likely to cite higher earnings as a strong motivation, while women were more likely to express interest in learning for its own sake. |
| To be able to get a better job | 84.9% | 84.7% |
| To be able to make more money | 70.7% | 74.9% |
| To get training for a specific career | 80.3% | 75.0% |
| To prepare myself for graduate or professional school | 66.8% | 54.4% |
| To gain a general education and appreciation of ideas | 79.7% | 70.2% |
| To make me a more cultured person | 57.5% | 44.0% |
| To learn more about things that interest me | 87.0% | 80.0% |
| In spite of their grades, female college freshmen rated their academic ability, creativity, leadership ability, mathematical ability, public-speaking ability, and risk-taking lower than men did. They were also much more likely to rank their emotional health, physical health, and self-confidence as only average or below average. The incoming freshmen rated themselves as the “highest 10 percent” or “above average” compared with the average person their age in the following categories: |
| Academic ability | 69.7% | 76.2% |
| Artistic ability | 33.7% | 27.1% |
| Compassion | 75.0% | 63.2% |
| Creativity | 51.6% | 53.8% |
| Drive to achieve | 77.3% | 75.2% |
| Emotional health | 40.4% | 55.8% |
| Leadership ability | 59.7% | 66.7% |
| Mathematical ability | 39.5% | 57.8% |
| Physical health | 44.6% | 64.2% |
| Public-speaking ability | 35.3% | 46.2% |
| Risk-taking | 38.2% | 51.2% |
| Self-confidence (intellectual) | 50.4% | 70.3% |
| Self-confidence (social) | 41.1% | 52.2% |
| When asked whether they had concerns about being able to pay for college, women expressed less faith than men did that they would make it. |
| None (I am confident that I will have sufficient funds) | 25.4% | 37.6% |
| Some (but I probably will have enough funds) | 58.8% | 52.3% |
| Major (not sure I will have enough funds to complete college) | 15.8% | 10.1% |
| Women did better than men did in getting into and graduating from college in 2016. |
| Acceptance rate at colleges without open enrollment | 57.6% | 54.0% |
| Percentage of all undergraduate students enrolled | 56.1% | 43.9% |
| Completion of bachelor’s or equivalent at 4-year college within 6 years | 56.8% | 52.3% |
| But to achieve what they did, undergraduate women borrowed more money. |
| Percentage who borrowed federal loans in 2015-16 | 39.0% | 32.9% |
| Percentage with no cumulative loans | 41.2% | 49.6% |
| $1-$5,999 in cumulative loans | 13.7% | 13.8% |
| $6,000-$13,499 in cumulative loans | 14.6% | 12.4% |
| $13,500-$26,499 in cumulative loans | 14.9% | 12.6% |
| $26,500 or more in cumulative loans | 15.6% | 11.6% |
| Median cumulative amount borrowed for undergraduate education among undergraduates at all levels (counting students with zero borrowing) | $4,814 | $654 |
| Median cumulative amount borrowed for undergraduate education among undergraduates at all levels who borrowed at all | $14,153 | $12,500 |
| Average cumulative amount borrowed by graduating seniors earning bachelor’s degrees (counting students with zero borrowing) | $21,619 | $18,880 |
| Average cumulative amount borrowed by graduating seniors earning bachelor’s degrees (excluding students with zero borrowing) | $30,278 | $28,801 |
| That greater borrowing occurred in part because female students, on average, came from poorer, less-educated families than male students did. |
| Parents’ highest level of education less than bachelor’s | 58.5% | 51.2% |
| Parents’ highest level of education bachelor’s or above | 41.1% | 48.6% |
| Parents’ income less than $27,900 | 27.3% | 22.4% |
| Parents’ income $27,900-62,999 | 25.4% | 24.4% |
| Parents’ income $63,000-113,499 | 24.3% | 25.9% |
| Parents’ income $113,500 or more | 23.0% | 27.3% |
| Median parental income for dependent students | $62,581 | $70,791 |
| Percentage who received Pell Grants | 43.1% | 34.0% |
| Expected family contribution of $0 toward college for those who applied for aid | 42.5% | 34.6% |
| Median expected family contribution | $7,558 | $8,471 |
| Female undergraduates were more likely to be older than their male counterparts, to be independent of their parents, and to have their own dependents. |
| Age 25 and older | 30.4% | 26.3% |
| Dependent | 48.2% | 54.0% |
| Independent, no dependents, single | 17.4% | 24.7% |
| Independent, no dependents, married | 5.1% | 4.6% |
| Independent, with dependents, single | 18.5% | 7.3% |
| Independent, with dependents, married | 10.9% | 9.4% |
| And when they finished college and needed to pay off their loans, even though they had increased their earning power substantially, women were likely to make far less money than men did. Below are the median earnings of adults 25 and older based on their highest level of educational attainment. |
| Less than high-school graduate | $15,831 | $24,644 |
| High-school graduate (includes equivalency) | $22,571 | $34,010 |
| Some college or associate degree | $28,692 | $41,731 |
| Bachelor’s degree | $42,154 | $62,242 |
| Graduate or professional degree | $56,859 | $85,127 |
| Researchers at Georgetown University have concluded that, to earn the same as men do, women need to attain one more degree than men have. But when women follow that path, they tend to accumulate more debt. The average cumulative debt of research-doctorate recipients in 2016 was 34 percent higher for women than for men. |
| Undergraduate | $9,709 | $8,128 |
| Graduate | $18,103 | $12,601 |
| Total | $27,646 | $20,611 |
| Even if they went into science, mathematics, and engineering fields traditionally dominated by men, female doctorate recipients had lower salaries in their first job after earning their doctorates than their male counterparts did. The earnings disparity held true in almost every major field, as shown in the sampling below. |
| Education (69.9% female) | $65,000 | $72,000 |
| Psychology and social sciences (58.7% female) | $65,000 | $73,725 |
| Humanities and arts (51.8% female) | $51,000 | $53,000 |
| Life sciences (55.1% female) | $72,000 | $78,000 |
| Physical sciences (31.4% female) | $80,000 | $90,000 |
| Mathematics and computer sciences (24.2% female) | $90,000 | $110,000 |
| Engineering (23.1% female) | $92,000 | $100,000 |
| Women, consequently, have a harder time paying back their loans. This is the three-year repayment rate by gender in 2015. The rate indicates the percentage of borrowers in a repayment cohort whose payments reduced the loan principal by at least a dollar after three years. |
| 3-year repayment rate | 42% | 48% |
| All those factors help explain why women hold a disproportionate share of all college debt. |
Gender breakdown of overall student-loan debt (AAUW estimate)
| $890 billion | $490 billion |
| Percentage of total | 64.5% | 35.5% |