For years, it advanced slowly, almost unnoticed. It wasn’t advertised at freshman orientations or highlighted in admission brochures. Yet it’s everywhere, in classrooms, resident halls, even in the quad where students gather.
Over the past five decades, men have steadily disappeared from college campuses nationwide, including here in Kansas.
At all state universities, males represent a minority of undergraduate students.
K-State and Pittsburg State University are closest to parity, while male enrollment at Wichita State, Emporia, and Fort Hays is particularly low; Emporia the most uneven at just 36% male. Washburn University is even more lopsided at 35%.
The pattern extends beyond universities.
At 14 of the 19 state community colleges, men constitute less than 45%. At six of them, male representation falls below 35%. Only at Coffeyville and Independence do men reach a majority.
Men are also less likely to complete schooling once enrolled. The six-year college completion rate for women is nearly 10 points higher than for men.
The phenomenon has impacted post-graduate education.
Statewide, men account for less than 40% of graduate students, 45% of medical students, and typically less than half of incoming law classes.
Nationally, 47% of 25–34-year-old women have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 37% of men — the gap larger among lower income males. Women now earn 45% more doctoral degrees overall, and nearly twice the number of master’s degrees.
To be clear, women are not pushing men out of college. Rather, men are choosing not to go.
The disparities are in part shaped by factors in place well before college. But as women’s history demonstrates, underrepresentation in higher education carries costs, to those directly affected and society as a whole.
The immediate impact is felt in the classroom. Skewed gender representation, favoring men or women, can subtly change the culture of learning and participation norms. This in turn can influence teaching strategies.
Friendship networks and partnership patterns are also impacted. College connects individuals through various functions, social clubs, recreational activities, and academic units.
The shared experiences are a catalyst for deeper relationships. About a fifth of students meet their partners in college, and 81% of the college-educated are married to or partnered with another college graduate.
The labor market is impacted as well. Early career sorting by education draws men and women into increasingly separate professions. Downstream, this impacts marriage timing and family formation.
