For First Time, Women Lead Men in Completing College

The proportion of women completing college has topped that of men, and the lead is widening. At the same time, young blacks have almost caught up with whites in the percentage graduating from high school.

More than 86% of blacks between the ages of 25 and 29 last year were high school graduates, compared with better than 87% of whites. Statistically, Census Bureau officials say, those figures are close enough to be considered equal.

“The educational attainment of young African Americans indicates a dramatic improvement by groups who historically have been less educated,” census population expert Jennifer Day said.

And 29.3% of women in the same age group had completed four years or more of college as of 1997, compared with 26.3% of men, the Census Bureau said Sunday in a report titled “Educational Attainment in the United States, March 1997.”

Issued every two years, the bureau’s analysis of education statistics also disclosed that the college graduation rates for women topped men 28.2% to 26.1% in 1996. That marked the first time women have had a statistically significant lead, Day said.

From 1985 to 1995, the percentages of men and women completing college was so close that the difference was considered statistically insignificant, Day said. But before 1985, men held the lead consistently.

*

Young women also led men in completing high school, 88.9% to 85.8%.

Although the Latino population has experienced educational gains, it remains far behind other racial and ethnic groups. The proportion of Latinos between the ages of 25 and 29 who were high school graduates rose from 51% in 1987 to 55% in 1997. In the same period, the share with some college training jumped from 22% to 29%.