Women Far Outnumber Men On Campus, Study Finds

A new, sweeping federal report details how women are quickly outpacing men in terms of college enrollment at every degree level -- although, on average, male degree-holders still earn higher median wages than their female counterparts.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has more details:

The report, a compendium of data published annually by the department's National Center for Education Statistics, projects that by 2019 women will account for 59 percent of total undergraduate enrollment and 61 percent of total postbaccalaureate enrollment at the nation's colleges and universities. Since the late 1990s, they have accounted for about three-fourths of the increase in the number of master's degrees awarded in the United States and nearly all of the growth in the number of professional degrees earned, the report says.

The bad news the report contains is that, in the eyes of some national experts on higher education, the United States is not making nearly enough progress in moving more students through high schools and colleges to become more significantly competitive in the world economy.

Despite the prevalence of women on campus, females are still "severely underrepresented" in fields such as engineering and computer science.

The report also states that from 2008-2008, college enrollment in total increased by 24 percent, and private postsecondary institutions saw a 44 percent rise in attendance.

From 2000 to 2008, overall undergraduate enrollment at postsecondary institutions rose by 24 percent, to 16.4 million, the report says. Private institutions, which experienced a 44-percent increase in enrollments, accounted for a disproportionate share of growth.

Read the Chronicle's distillation of the report, or see it in full here.