Measuring the Gender Gap in American Higher Education

Preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2011-12 academic year shows that there were 16,660,719 women and 12,380,814 men enrolled in degree-granting institutions of higher education. Thus, women made up 57.4 percent of all enrollments in degree-granting institutions.

The figures show that women earned 1,760,657 degrees at these institutions during the 2011-12 academic year. During this period, men earned 1,269,043 degrees. Therefore, women made up 58.1 percent of all degree earners. Women were 62.7 percent of all students who earned degrees at private, for-profit degree granting institutions.