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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThere’s been a fair amount of talk in Indiana and beyond about the falling college-going rate, a term that refers to the number of high school graduates who go on to pursue a two-year or four-year degree.
In Indiana, 51.7% of the high school class of 2023 went directly to college, according to data released this summer by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. That’s down from nearly 65% in 2013 and slightly lower than the 52.8% who enrolled in college the year before.
More concerning is that Indiana significantly trails the national rate of 61.4%.
The numbers matter because researchers who focus on the labor market project that some 70% of jobs in the United States will require some form of education or training after high school. Of course, that doesn’t mean a four-year degree. And certainly, Indiana—and other states—are working on programs meant to move more students overall into certificate programs, apprenticeships and on-the-job training that will better prepare them to succeed in the workplace.
But we’re not sure enough experts and policy analysts are paying enough attention to a subset of the falling college-going rate: the decreasing number of young men pursuing college degrees.
The gender gap in Indiana is startling. In 2023, state data shows that just 45% of Indiana’s male high school graduates went directly into a college program, compared with 58% of females.
IBJ’s Daniel Lee wrote about the issue in a story last week. He found that many people in education were prepared to talk about the dropping college-going rate overall. But far fewer were either prepared to or willing to talk about the gender gap.
Michael Hicks, an economics professor at Ball State University, however, was blunt. He called the lack of attention on male enrollment “a campus culture of silence on this extraordinarily important issue.”
That’s a concern—and one that higher education officials should be preparing to tackle.
For decades, colleges and universities have developed and implemented programs meant to give women more opportunities in education, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math fields, where men continue to earn a larger number of degrees and hold a greater percentage of jobs.
But in most other majors, men are now in the minority—and have been for some time. Yet colleges have so far not developed programs to try to specifically attract more men into degree programs.
“There’s a lot of tension politically that college leaders face in navigating how to talk about gender gaps and finding a way to speak about declining male enrollment that doesn’t imply that they want to see a decline in women’s enrollment,” Katharine Meyer, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told IBJ.
It’s time for higher education officials to get over that concern. The economy will need more highly skilled workers in future years, not fewer of them. And leaving out half the population because it’s not politically correct to talk about it won’t solve the problem.•
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The editorial raises a valid concern about the growing gender gap in higher education, but it misses one of the biggest reasons why young men are turning away from college: many colleges and their professors and staff have become openly hostile environments for them.
For years now, higher education has promoted the idea of “toxic masculinity,” painting traditional male traits, such as competitiveness, confidence, and leadership, as flaws to be corrected rather than strengths to be developed. What was once considered healthy male behavior has been rebranded as something negative or dangerous. The message to young men is clear: you’re part of the problem before you even walk through the door. It’s no surprise that fewer are choosing to enroll.
Meanwhile, the workforce still offers plenty of good-paying, honorable jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, fields like construction, electrical work, plumbing, mechanics, and the military. These are careers that build, repair, and defend our country. They require skill, discipline, and physical capability, traits that have long been associated with traditional masculinity. While women can and do succeed in these fields, the reality is that most do not pursue them, and that’s okay. We need balance and respect for the different roles and strengths both men and women bring to society.
Instead of ignoring the male enrollment problem or being afraid to discuss it, higher education needs to take a hard look at the culture it has created. Colleges should be places that encourage men and women alike to grow, lead, and contribute not institutions that shame one gender while promoting the other. Until that changes, many young men will continue to find opportunity, pride, wives and purpose elsewhere, and who can blame them?