Two girls for every boy?
Not quite yet.
The male to female ratio of students in colleges around the country has been decreasing.
In 2004, 57 percent of bachelor's degrees were earned by women whereas today more than half of all doctorates, master's, bachelor's and associate degrees are earned by them.
Most college campuses average a male to female ratio of 43/57 percent.
Plattsburgh State University College has reamined very close to this range for the past five years.
Thirty years ago, males constituted 58 percent of the college population compared to today's 44 percent.
To entice more high school males into colleges, some universities are sending campus literature with masculine pictures or emphasizing male-dominant classes such as an engineering programs to high schools.
The Santa Clara College in California sends out "special mailings" to high school boys in their recruitment attempt.
Colleges are finding that to rank higher academically among other colleges, they must admit more women as they are more often the top students in high school.
This raises admission standards which directors are reluctant to lower to even the gender ratio at their institution.
A 50/50 percent ratio is now the exception rather than the rule.
These standards apply to women, too.
Carnegie Mellon University has strong electrical engineering and computer science programs that more men than women apply to. Because only females having exceptional academic strength for them are admitted, the male to female ratio at Carnegie Mellon University is 60/40 percent.
In his article, "Gender Gap Growing On College Campuses", Peter Y. Hong, of the Los Angeles Times, stated, "Administrators are watching closely for the 'tipping point' at which schools become unappealing to both men and women. They fear that lopsided male to female ratios will hurt the social life and diverse classrooms they use as selling points."
Most admissions directors feel that a relatively equal female-male ratio enhances the college experience.
Some studies have shown that a greater number of women on campus meant a higher GPA for both genders.
An anonymous male student at PSUC said that even if the male to female ratio reached 70/30 percent, "it doesn't matter, we need a workforce."
He went on to say that "State institutions need to, and have an obligation to, represent the population, and should worry about taking a good sample of the population."
Jean Mockry, a childhood education instructor at PSUC, said she "would hate to see it so off like that. It is not reflective of the greater outside community."
She also feels that "you serve your population, whatever it is their needs are; the social piece, the activities, the community outreach, those pieces are also important."
Sometimes, the gender imbalance does not bother students much.
The girls do not mind being outnumbered by males on campus and vice versa.
The continued decrease of male college students may be the result of a developmental lag that affects "late bloomers" until junior high school. The lag impacts a student's academic performance.
Also, increased male dropout rates and decreased blue-collar jobs that formerly attracted males to college impact the number in attendance.
Some people think that classes are geared more towards female learning styles and interests.
Michael Gurian, who published, "The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind In Schools and Life," had the final word, "If we create a generation of men who aren't getting an education, that's bad for women."
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