New Data on the College Graduation Rates of Women

The U.S. Department of Education recently released data on the success rate of the cohort of students who entered higher education in the fall of 2003. For all students who enrolled in any type of postsecondary educational institution in 2003, 31 percent of women earned a bachelor’s degree by 2009. This was only slightly higher than the rate for men. Some 30.4 percent of men who entered postsecondary education in 2003 earned a bachelor’s degree by 2009. Another 9.5 percent of women and 9.1 percent of men had earned two-year associate’s degree by 2009.

If we look only at students who entered public, four-year institutions in 2003, 62.1 percent of women went on to earn a bachelor’s degree by 2009. For men, 56.3 percent of all students who entered four-year institutions in 2003 were awarded a bachelor’s degree by 2009.

At private, four-year institutions, 68 percent of women who matriculated in 2003 went on to earn a bachelor’s degree by 2009. For men at four-year, private colleges and universities, 60.3 percent of all students who entered in 2003 earned a bachelor’s degree by 2009.