Female Students Now Outnumber Males on Many College Campuses

In a Sept. 28 article on the website GreenvilleOnline, staff writer Anna Simon noted that women are now in the majority at many U.S. colleges and universities:

The declining number of men compared to women attending the nation’s colleges is a phenomenon that carries profound social and economic implications as comparatively more female graduates enter the workplace. Experts aren’t really sure why it’s happening.

Clemson is 54 percent male and 46 percent female. The University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus is 44 percent male and 56 percent female, a more typical ratio. Officials at USC and on other campuses including Furman University and Erskine College are taking steps to recruit, retain and graduate more men. ...

Female enrollment outpaced male enrollment 29 percent to 22 percent between 1997 and 2007, according to the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education.

In the decade ahead, enrollment among women is projected to grow by 16 percent versus 9 percent among men, according to new education department projections through 2018.