The participation rates of Black males in higher education: 1968–2007

Higher proportions of females than males currently attain tertiary education in the United States where completing high school is the prerequisite for gaining access to postsecondary education (Buchmann, DiPrete, & McDaniel, 2008; Horn & Premo, 1995). Since 1970, women went from being the minority to the majority of the United States undergraduate population, increasing their representation in higher education from 42 percent of undergraduates in 1970 to 56 in 2001 (Freeman, 2004; Peter & Horn, 2005). Although there were more men than women ages 18–24 in the United States (15 vs. 14.2 million) in 2004, the male/female ratio on college campuses was 43–57, a reversal from the late 1960s and well beyond the nearly even splits of the mid-1970s (Marklein, 2005). Male–female ratios differ among colleges, with some US institutions now having ratios approaching two-thirds of women. It is projected that by 2010, 9.4 million women will be enrolled in college, compared with only 6.8 million men, a ratio of about 41 men to 59 women (NACUFS, 2007).