Fewer men finishing college, analysis finds

LITTLE ROCK — A report on minority achievement in higher education sounds an alarm about an unlikely minority group: men.

Younger men are significantly less likely to have completed college than older men, according to an analysis of federal data by the American Council on Education, a nonprofit group that represents college leaders. The educational stagnation of men is hindering the progress of the nation as a whole and largely offsetting gains by women, the group says.

The 24th edition of the Minorities in Higher Education report provides the latest evidence of academic decline among men, particularly in college. Women outnumber men by a ratio of nearly 3-to-2 in the college population, largely because men are more likely to drop out of high school and to forgo college for manual labor or the military.

Many generations of Americans exceeded the educational level of their parents. That remains true, the new study finds, but only for women. As of 2008, 42 percent of women ages 25 to 34 held at least an associate’s degree, compared with 34 percent of women ages 55 to 64.

For men, the reverse is true. The college completion rate is 33 percent for younger men and 40 percent for older men.

“Clearly, women of the post-baby boom generations have been successful in raising college attainment while men have not, and the gap between women and men is growing,” the report states.

Young men of every racial group are less likely to have finished college than older men of the same race. The sole exception is Asian Americans, whose completion rates are much higher among young adults of both sexes.

Young women of every race, by contrast, have a college-completion rate equal to or higher than that of their elders.

It’s not that men have stopped going to college. Male completion rates have effectively stalled, while female completion continues to rise, creating an exaggerated appearance of male failure, said Bryan Cook, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the D.C.-based council.

“One of the things we know is that women need higher levels of education than men to earn the same salary,” Cook said. “So you see women persisting in school and going further than men.You also see more women returning to work who are single heads of household.”

Among whites ages 55 to 64, the college completion rate is 37 percent for women and 43 percent for men. Among whites ages 25 to 34, the completion rates are 49 percent for women and 39 percent for men.