The Gender Gap in College Graduation Rates

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that 56.1 percent of women students who entered four-year-college bachelor’s degree programs at state-operated institutions in 2004, earned their degree within six years. For men, the figure was 50.7 percent.

At private, nonprofit colleges, women students did much better. More than 66 percent of women students who entered private, nonprofit colleges in 2004 earned their degree within six years. Here the gender was slightly smaller. More than 62 percent of male students who entered college in 2004 received their degree within six years at the private colleges and universities.