OCT. 2, 2009 -- Some state colleges, private and public, may have a tough financial future because their student bodies are becoming predominantly female, state educators say.
Some higher educators across the state have become concerned that a female-heavy enrollment could mean lower donations in the future because, according to federal statistics, women make less than men, are paid less for commensurate jobs, and have been more likely to leave the workforce to raise a family or care for loved ones.
As a result, a two-thirds female enrollment now could significantly shrink the depth of a university’s donor pool in the future, several educators said. And the challenge could be especially difficult for state colleges and universities as state dollars wouldn’t be as available in the near future with the state’s economy still in the doldrums and with it expected to remain relatively flat for the foreseeable future.
This year’s entering class at the College of Charleston was historic, according to Jimmie Foster, director of the college’s freshman enrollment. For the first time ever, females made up more than 70 percent of its incoming freshman class. The class opened with 1,299 females and 657 men , according to statistics compiled by the state’s Commission on Higher Education
Unlike cross-town rival The Citadel, which had 85 percent men in its freshman class this year,the College of Charleston has never been a single-sex school.
Foster said the school, which was already in a push to drive up total enrollment, saw a 15-percent increase in incoming females, but a 2.3-percent drop in males. Foster added this was the first time he believed that his institution had exceeded the ratio of two women for every male frosh.
Football + engineering = More male students
Looking across national data, Foster said the rule for gender balance at colleges generally depended on whether they had a football program and an engineering department. But if an institution of higher education has neither, like the College, “then what we’re seeing is splits 60/40 female to male, and sometimes 65/35,” he said.
Across South Carolina, Foster’s rule of thumb basically holds. The University of South Carolina, whose Gamecocks football team recently defeated national power Ole Miss, welcomed 1,715 males to its 2009 freshman class and 2,144 females. Clemson, another big football school, was near parity, with 1,432 females admitted to the freshman class and 1,491 males, according to the same data.
But, a quick look at the other comprehensive, non-football public schools showed a definite gender gap in their freshman classes:
- Francis Marion: 227 males, 454 females
- Lander: 156 males, 399 females
- USC Aiken: 204 males, 390 females
- Winthrop: 315 males, 760 females
Currently there are no programs tailored to attract more male students to the state’s smaller, non-football schools, according to the higher ed commission’s spokesperson, Rita Allison.
Allison, a Republican from Lyman who serves in the S.C. House of Representatives, said the commission has yet to do a study on the future impacts of a female-heavy enrollment, or a study that included foreign students taking their degrees and returning home.
But Allison said the outlook wasn’t as grim as it could be, and pointed out that women attending college were leaving the traditional, lower paying fields of teaching and nursing for more lucrative degrees that would land them better-paying “knowledge-based jobs,” such as computer engineering.
Discussion nothing new at Columbia College
This discussion is old hat for Dr. Caroline Whitson, president of the private, Methodist, all-female Columbia College in the state’s capitol. Since the middle of the 19th century, male students have been visitors on campus.
That has meant that not only did Columbia College have to deal with its graduates leaving the work-force like other schools, but the married ones entered homes where the husband always had attended another university. This has meant further potential reductions in the potential donor pool thanks to homes with split academic/athletic loyalties.
Whitson, fresh from a trustees meeting this week where fundraising was a central discussion point, said the answer would be for schools to do their jobs: educate their graduates.
Well-educated graduates, Whitson argued, would understand the needs of their alma maters and would get the kind of jobs and paychecks that make charitable giving more likely.
Statistically, the only advantage her school enjoyed, she said muffling a gallows snicker, was that its graduates tended to outlive their spouses.
But getting them young was important, too, according to Whitson, who said Columbia College educates its students about institutional giving before they leave campus. Additionally, a few alums fathers have started speaking to groups of other fathers about the importance of donating to their daughters’ and wives’ alma maters.
Crystal ball: It’s obvious something needs to be done to cut the gender gap at colleges. Maybe it’s time for state higher education officials to take a look at the issue instead of sitting on their hands. If the state can’t come through with more money in the future, and it likely won’t, then state schools without football or engineering will likely look more and more to starting football programs, increasing tuition and accepting more out-of-state students who pay higher tuition. Or they may face cutting degree fields, standards and faculty -- not necessarily in that order.
Case in point: sources say some staffers at the College of Charleston are looking into the possibility of adding a football program, which could cost $10 million a year. But on the plus side, the college potentially could bring in an additional $30 million annually in donations from happy alumni.