Gender Gap in African-American Enrollments at Black Colleges

The latest data shows that there are 1,266,107 black women enrolled in higher education compared to 686,615 black men. Recently JBHE surveyed eight of the nation’s most prestigious privately operated coeducational black colleges and universities to see if women at these schools hold the same very large lead over black men as do black women on the national level.

We found that black women make up a majority of the student body at each of the institutions surveyed. At Dillard University, women make up 78 percent of the student body. At Clark Atlanta and Xavier, women make up more than 70 percent of all students. Even at Tuskegee University, which is known for its strong programs in the agricultural sciences (a discipline not considered to be a favorite course of study among women), women are now a majority of the student body.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.