Over the last half-century, the share of postsecondary degrees being awarded to men has declined. As Figure 1 shows, the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees conferred to men in 2021 was 42%, down from 57% in 1970. There have been even steeper declines at other degree levels.

Figure 1

The male share could be lower because men are less likely to enroll in college, or because they are less likely to finish college after enrolling, or both. Here we examine trends in both enrollment and completion. We show that the male share of students enrolling in college has declined dramatically, and that male completion rates are persistently lower. Combined, these two gender gaps—in both enrollment and completion—cause the lower male share of degrees awarded. These patterns hold across racial groups and most institution types. 

This descriptive analysis underscores the need for further research to understand the key factors driving the decline in male higher education attainment—and, crucially, to identify effective strategies for reversing this trend.

Overall Enrollment Rates

Of course not all college students enroll directly from high school. It could be that men enroll at a similar rate, just a few years later. But they do not: overall enrollment rates are still much lower for men. Figure 3 shows the share of men and women aged 18-24 who are enrolled in college, for the whole population and for the four largest racial and ethnic categories. 

Figure 3

There are wide race gaps in college enrollment, but young men are less likely to be in college than young women in every racial group. The size of the gap does vary, however. Notably, Hispanic men lag behind Hispanic women by 12 percentage points. In contrast, Asian students have both high rates of enrollment and the smallest gender gap, with men trailing women by only 6 percentage points. 

College Completion

Men not only enter college at lower rates, but they are also are less likely to complete their course of study. It might be expected that with fewer male students, those who do attend are more likely to succeed due to selection effects. But that is not borne out by the data: the gender graduation gap has been consistent for the last 20 years, across all standard time-to-graduation metrics, and is evident in nearly all types of higher education institutions. 

Figure 5 shows the “on time” graduation rates for men and women at four-year and two-year institutions since the entering class of 1996.  

Figure 5

While completion rates for both genders have increased substantially over the last 20 years, the gap between male and female completion has been relatively steady. At four-year institutions, there was a 7 percentage-point gap in six-year completion rates for the cohort entering in 2016 (61% for men versus 68% for women), compared to a 6 percentage-point gap for the 1996 cohort (52% for men versus 58% for women).

A closer look at completion rates shows that if men do complete college, they are less likely than women to do so quickly. Figure 6 shows 4-year and 6-year completion rates at 4-year institutions. The gender gap in four-year graduation rates is 11 percentage points, narrowing to 7 percentage points for six-year rates. Since men take longer to complete college (if they do complete), this means that the overall enrollment numbers may paint a somewhat distorted picture, since they capture men who, if they had graduated earlier, wouldn’t be enrolled).

For both genders, completion rates are the highest at private non-profit institutions, followed by public institutions, and trailed far behind by private for-profits. But the size of the gap is similar across institute types. Private for-profits are an exception to the rule – this is the only subsample of the data we examined where outcomes are better for men than women. 

Figure 6

Just as with enrollment, the gender gap in completion rates can be seen across racial groups, albeit with distinct patterns. The largest disparities here are observed among Black students. Black women are 12 percentage points more likely to graduate within six years than Black men. However, it’s important to note that the completion rates of Black women are still lower than those of men from all other racial groups. In other words, the race gaps are wider than the gender gaps. Interestingly, Hispanic students, who have the lowest enrollment rates, exhibit relatively higher completion rates, hinting at potential selection effects. Overall, these nuanced patterns suggest that a gender and race sensitive approach to designing and targeting interventions is needed. 

Figure 7