A Statistical Snapshot of Women Who Recently Graduated From Four-Year Colleges

New statistics from the Department of Education offer a snapshot of women who earned a bachelor’s degree during the 2007-08 academic year.

• More than 71 percent of all women earning bachelor’s degree were White, 10 percent were Black, 10.5 percent were Hispanic, and 8.5 percent were Asian or other ethnicities.

• Nearly one third of all women earning bachelor’s degrees were 24 years old or older. More than 14 percent were older than 30.

• Less than 10 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by women were in STEM fields. For men, 25.5 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded were in STEM fields. Men were more than five times as likely as women to earn bachelor’s degrees in computer science and engineering. One in every five bachelor’s degrees awarded to women was in the field of business. Women were three times as likely as men to earn a bachelor’s degree in an education field.

• One year after graduating from college, 63.5 percent of women were unmarried and had no dependents. Thirty percent were married and 11 percent were married and had dependents.

• One year after college, 54 percent of women graduates were employed full time in one job. Nearly 15 percent held down two or more jobs. Eight percent were unemployed and 4.2 percent were enrolled in another degree program in higher education.