The Significant Gender Gap in College Graduation Rates

New data from the U.S. Department of Education reveals a persisting gender gap in college graduation rates. The data examines students who entered four-year colleges in 2015 seeking a bachelor’s degree to see if they had earned a bachelor’s degree by 2021, six years after entering higher education.

The statistics show that 64.5 percent of all students entering four-year colleges in 2015 seeking a bachelor’s degree had graduated within six years. Some 66.4 percent of all women had earned a degree within six years compared to 60.4 percent of men. The gender gap in graduation rates was slightly higher at private, not-for-profit colleges and universities. At these institutions, women had a graduation rate that was 6.9 percentage points higher than the rate for men.

Women graduated at a higher rate than men in all racial and ethnic groups. The smallest gender gap was among Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders at 3.1 percentage points. The largest gender gap was among African Americans. Black women had a graduation rate that was 10.5 percentage points higher than the rate for Black men.

The data also includes information on students who entered two-year community colleges in 2018 and earned an associate’s degree by 2021, three years after first enrolling in community college. At these schools, there was a smaller gender gap in degree attainment. Some 38.1 percent of women who entered community college in 2018 seeking an associate’s degree had graduated by 2021. For men, the graduation rate was 34.6 percent.

Again, women graduated at a higher rate than men in all racial and ethnic groups at two-year colleges. But for Whites, the difference was very small. White women had a graduation rate of 40.0 percent compared to 39.1 percent for White men. For Asian Americans, women had a graduation rate that was 9.1 percentage points higher than the rate for men.