The Wide Gender Gap in African-American Graduate School Enrollments

Last week JBHE reported the surge in black enrollments in graduate school. There are now more than 170,000 black Americans enrolled in graduate programs. Black enrollments have grown at a rate of 8 percent a year, four times the overall enrollment growth rate.

But this good news is tempered by the huge and growing gender gap in graduate higher education. Over the past five years, black women have increased their enrollments in graduate school 10 percent each year. For black men, enrollments are up an average of 6 percent per year.

Overall, in 2007 black women made up 73 percent of African-American enrollments in graduate schools nationwide.

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