How Do Women’s Colleges Compare?

 An Objective Examination of Women’s Colleges

Today in the U.S., college education for women is something we almost take for granted. However, that has not always been the case. The history of women’s colleges demonstrates the hard-fought battles that earned women the right to equal education and paved the way for a system where men and women could learn side by side.

Although they were once plentiful, there are now just a few dozen women-only colleges across the United States. What do these schools look like today, and how do they compare to other private, coeducational colleges? After providing some helpful background information, we will address these questions by exploring the data.

A Bit of History about All Female Colleges

In the early 1800s, almost all universities and colleges were exclusively for men. Although some schools for women began to pop up, they were typically seminaries that offered limited education, not robust academic training like that which was provided at men’s colleges.

Pioneers of women’s education, like Mary Lyon (founder of Mount Holyoke College) and Catharine E. Beecher, saw these limitations and began to promote education for women that was equal to that offered to men. In 1836, Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia became the first chartered women’s college. This started a domino effect from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s, as women’s seminaries became re-chartered as true colleges, and other women-only universities began to appear.

The most famous of the women’s colleges were known as the Seven Sisters, a name given in 1927 to highlight their parallels to Ivy League men’s colleges. The Seven Sisters included seven elite, women-only schools that were founded between 1837 and 1889: Mount Holyoke College, Vassar College, Wellesley College, Smith College, Radcliffe College, Bryn Mawr College, and Barnard College.

The Seven Sisters became a model for the many other women-only schools that emerged from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s. Historians calculate that by 1960 there were between 230 and 300 women’s colleges across the country.

The Move to Coeducation

Women’s colleges were created to ensure access to equal education for women, and this was particularly important in the early 1800s when few other options existed for women. However, as time went on, women’s colleges were not the only option for women seeking a degree. From 1835 to 1950, men’s colleges became coeducational at a “fairly continuous” rate, which then accelerated during the 1960s and 1970s.

The 1960s were a turning point for mixed-sex colleges as both men’s and women’s colleges began opening their doors to other genders (although, as Joanne V. Creighton, a former Mount Holyoke College president points out, many still practiced various forms of gender segregation during the early years). There are several reasons for the rapid move to coeducation, including increased demand for coeducation, increased enrollment as a result of becoming coed, and several Supreme Court cases which determined that single-sex public universities violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

While most women’s colleges were private schools, many nonetheless became coeducational in the 1960s and 1970s, including two of the Seven Sister colleges: Radcliffe College, whose merging with Harvard University took place from 1963 to 1977, and Vassar College, which became coed in 1969 after declining an offer to merge with Yale University.

After that, the number of women’s colleges that became coed continued to grow. Today, less than 5 percent of female students attend women’s colleges, and the Women’s College Coalition lists just 39 women-only schools on its website.

The Promoters

The women’s colleges that exist today operate on a slightly different rationale compared to when they were created. Back in the 1800s, these schools emerged to give women access to equal education. Today, now that women are no longer excluded from attending most universities, it could be summarized that all female colleges exist to give women an equal chance of success in a male-dominated society.

As former Mount Holyoke College President, Joanne V. Creighton points out that gender equality has not yet been reached. Women earn, on average, 77 cents for every dollar of their male counterparts. They represent only 2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, and they are underrepresented in Congress, the Supreme Court, and other positions of power. According to Creighton, women’s colleges are “propelling women forward to make a positive difference in the world” by following a tradition of women’s leadership that “stresses connection, caring, community, self in relationship, service {and} social responsibility.”

Creighton goes on to argue that women’s colleges “have had a radically disproportionate effect in generating ‘social capital’ and in propelling women forward as change agents in the larger world that devalues them.”

Similarly, others argue that women’s colleges give students the chance to be surrounded by a group of intelligent and ambitious female peers in an environment that allows them to concentrate on career and personal development without the pressure to impress men.

Proponents say women’s colleges offer challenging coursework, opportunities to develop leadership skills, a pathway for women to excel in male-dominated fields (especially STEM careers), and the ability to join an accomplished and supportive female alumnae network upon graduation.

And the Critics

That said, not everyone has that same opinion of women’s colleges, some instead offering a number of critiques against them.

For one, some argue that women’s colleges provide a biased education which is slanted toward feminism and liberalism. This argument has even been brought up by women’s college attendees, like this article by a Barnard College sophomore that included the lines “Feminism pervades all aspects of the curriculum,” “As students, we’re awash in the pervasive narrative that women are always on the losing side of the gender wars,” and “To mention anything that conflicts with the feminist narrative of victimhood is heretical.”

Others say that women’s colleges are a bastion of lesbianism: that they have a large population of gay students and women become lesbians while attending the school. While the truth or relevance of this can be debated, the stereotype is indeed widespread. The site unigo.com allows students to chime in about the common stereotypes about their school. Dozens of past and current students at schools like Smith College, Mount Holyoke and Wellesley have responded; the primary stereotype mentioned is homosexuality. Anecdotal evidence (like this one) also suggests that when female students announce to friends and family that they are attending a women’s college, they are often greeted with comments like, “Are you a gay?” or “You’re going to come back a lesbian.”

Additional critics point out other potential areas of weakness regarding women’s colleges. They wonder whether the lack of interaction with men is a good idea if attendees miss out on the social life of traditional coed schools and if these women will face limited career opportunities after they graduate.

Analyzing Women’s Colleges Versus Comparable Liberal Arts Colleges

The validity of statements – from both promoters and critics – are often debated.

But what does the data tell us?

For this, we turned to two college data sets to give us a picture of what women’s colleges look like today, and how they compare to other private coed schools. This allows us to evaluate the claims and stereotypes about women’s colleges and assess whether they are truly different from their coed counterparts beyond just the gender makeup of the student body.

To examine women’s colleges, we chose a sample of seven schools, including the five remaining Seven Sisters and two other women’s colleges of a similar level of competitiveness, as indicated by average ACT scores and acceptance rate.

We then selected a comparable group of coed, traditional private colleges that match these women’s colleges on a variety of measures: the same average composite ACT score range, the same school size range, and schools which are located in the same regions as our seven women’s colleges. In this group, there were 25 schools in total.

Colleges Included in this Analysis

Data from each group could then be aggregated and compared to see how women’s colleges stack up against other similar, yet coed, private schools.

IPEDS School-Level Comparisons

The first dataset used was the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a data collection program from the National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS includes a variety of college-level data, from tuition and fees to graduation rate and more.

Competitiveness

There are a number of measures in the IPEDS dataset that can be a proxy for how competitive a school is. As mentioned above, we used average ACT composite score when creating the groups, choosing comparable colleges whose average ACT ranged from 27 to 30.5 – the same range as our women’s colleges. But how do the two groups compare on other measures of competitiveness?

• Looking at the average combined SAT score, the women’s colleges had an aggregated average of 1341 compared to 1258 for the comparable colleges.
• When exploring the percentage of incoming freshmen in the top 10% of their high school class, we found that women’s colleges had an average of 67 percent in the top 10%, compared to 46 percent at the group of comparable schools.
• Regarding the percentage admitted, we found that, on average, 38 percent of those who apply to women’s colleges are accepted, while the corresponding figure is 47 percent for the group of comparable colleges.

On all three measures, it appears that women’s colleges are slightly more selective. So for women considering both options, their chances of getting accepted to the women’s colleges are slightly lower.

Aid and Grants

Next, we examined the financial assistance that is available to those who are accepted at each type of school. We found that:

• At women’s colleges, 73 percent of freshmen receive some form of aid, while 78 percent of freshmen at comparable colleges receive some form of aid. “Some form of aid” includes not only gift aid (like grants and scholarships) but also loans which must be paid back.
• 68 percent of freshmen at women’s colleges receive an institutional grant, while at comparable colleges, 74 percent receive institutional grant money. Institutional grants are gift aid provided by the college, money that does not have to be paid back.
• In looking at the average amount of the institutional grant money that freshmen receive, freshmen at women’s colleges receive $31,100 on average, whereas freshmen at our group of comparable colleges receive $28,200 on average.

According to this data, more freshmen at comparable liberal arts schools receive financial aid (in general) and institutional grants (specifically) compared to freshmen at women’s colleges. However, this money is ‘spread out’ more, meaning that, on average, grant recipients at women’s colleges get more money than those at the comparable schools.

Net Price

Financial aid only tells part of the story. The other part of the equation is the college cost – tuition, fees, room and board, books, and other expenses. These numbers are used in combination to calculate the “average net price” – that is, the average amount a student will have to pay for one year of education after the gift aid has been deducted out.

The data show that the average net price at women’s colleges is less than the comparable colleges: $26,700 compared to $29,100.

Those figures aside, the average net price can be estimated more specifically when breaking it down by income level, since much gift aid is awarded due to need versus merit (and this gift aid lowers the net price that must be paid back).

Here are the average net prices (rounded to the nearest hundred dollars) for each income level for both types of schools.

The data show that attendees of women’s colleges, on average, pay about $1,500-2,500 less per year after gift aid is deducted, compared to the averages of our group of comparable colleges. However, at a family income of over $100K, the price is about the same.

Retention Rate

Retention rate refers to the percentage of students who return to the school after their freshman year. It is a proxy for measuring student satisfaction since dissatisfied students will likely drop out or transfer to a different school.

IPEDS data show that the retention rate of our group of women’s college averages to 92 percent, with individual schools ranging from 87 percent to 95 percent. The group of comparable colleges averages to 91 percent, with individual schools ranging from 79 percent to 96 percent.

It appears that, on average, students at both types of schools are satisfied with their experience and highly like to return after their freshman year.

Graduation Rates

Returning to college for sophomore year is one thing; graduating is another thing entirely. The harsh reality is that not every student will finish the bachelor’s degree in four years… or even five or six. The IPEDS dataset includes multiple measures of graduation rate to show the percentage of students who finish their degree in 4, 5, or 6 years.

When examining women’s colleges to our group of comparable schools, the data showed:

• 4-Year Graduation Rate: 79 percent for women’s colleges, 80 percent for comparable colleges.
• 5-Year Graduation Rate: 83 percent for women’s colleges, 84 percent for comparable colleges.
• 6-Year Graduation Rate: 86 percent for women’s colleges, 84 percent for comparable colleges.

Thus, the two groups have similar graduation rates, with women’s colleges performing slightly better at the 6-year mark. However, it should be stressed that these are aggregate numbers, and each school varies in its individual graduation rate.

In fact, the range of 4-year graduation rates for the women’s colleges was 61 percent to 86 percent, while the range for the group of comparable colleges was 64 percent to 91 percent. These wide ranges in graduation rate demonstrate that although the averages of the groups are quite similar, the differences between individual schools can be quite large.

Debt and Earnings

A final area of IPEDs data comparison is what happens after the students graduate: what kind of earnings can they expect, and what amount of debt will follow them? The data showed:

• Graduates of women’s colleges leave with an average median debt of $18,800, compared to $23,300 at the group of comparable schools.
• With a 10-year amortization, women’s college graduates pay an average of $190 per month toward student debt, compared to $240 at the comparable colleges.
• After 10 years, 80 percent of women’s college graduates are earning over $25,000 compared to 83 percent at the comparable schools.
• The median earnings of students working after 10 years are $48,900 for those who graduated from women’s colleges compared to $50,300 for those who graduated from the comparable schools.

From these figures, we see that students at women’s colleges leave with slightly lower amounts of debt (and therefore have lower monthly payments). However, after 10 years in the workforce, they are making about $1500 less per year (on average) than those who went to the comparable colleges. Of course, this difference could simply be a result of the pay disparity between men and women which was mentioned earlier.

CRC Voice of the Student Comparisons

The IPEDS data allows us to compare women’s colleges to a group of comparable coed schools at the macro level. However, college-level data—like financial aid, price and graduation rate—does not tell us much about how students experience the school while attending.

For this, we turned to the data from the independent College Research Council (CRC). In its “Voice of the Student Survey,” the CRC polled over 7,500 undergraduates from liberal arts colleges to get their opinions about the college they attend, including satisfaction, safety, and alcohol and drug use.

Using this data, we could similarly compare our group of women’s colleges to the group of comparable colleges and see how they differ, based on what students have to say.

Satisfaction

The CRC asked students, “Overall, how satisfied are you with your college experience?” (on a scale of 0 to 10). Results for women’s colleges and the comparable schools were very similar.

Only about 1 percent of each group said they were “not satisfied at all.” Looking at the other end of the spectrum, the percentage of students who were extremely satisfied (giving a rating of 9 or 10) was 43 percent for women’s colleges and 42 percent for the comparable colleges.

That said, researchers who study customer experience have found that asking individuals how satisfied they are does not actually tell us much; in fact, satisfied customers and dissatisfied customers often act quite similarly. What does have predictive power is when we ask people how likely they are to recommend a brand or product (or in this case, a college) to a friend. Researchers use this information to calculate satisfaction in terms of the Net Promoter Score, or NPS. In general, NPS can tell us not just who is satisfied…but who is actually willing to take action based on that satisfaction.

In the CRC survey, students were asked, “How likely is it that you would recommend your school to a friend?” (on a scale of 0 to 10). Using the answers, we were able to calculate an NPS score for each group, with the rationale that a higher NPS demonstrates that students are more likely to recommend their school to a friend, and therefore the school will “have greater success in attracting new students, growing enrollment and completing institutional missions.”

When we examine our two groups, we find that women’s colleges have a higher NPS than the group of comparable colleges: 39 compared to 33. This might be the simplest answer to the question of why women’s colleges still exist today.

Not only have college presidents and boards made conscious decisions to keep these schools as women-only, but also the female attendees themselves are eager to recommend their school to other women.

Sexual Orientation and Behavior

Before moving on to other measures of campus and academic life, it is important to address another issue that was raised in the opening sections of this article: are women’s colleges centers for lesbianism?

The CRC asked students about their sexual orientation, and there are indeed large differences in our two groups. When students at the comparable schools were asked, “Would you consider yourself to be…” 5 percent said they are gay or lesbian, and an additional 7 percent said they are bisexual. Turning to students from our group of women’s colleges, 9 percent identified as gay or lesbian, and 21 percent said they are bisexual.

It does appear that there is a larger percentage of lesbian and bisexual individuals at women’s colleges. Other questions in the CRC data set can offer related information to help us understand not just the percentage of gay students but also school climate and behavior.

• When asked, “What’s your school’s climate concerning homosexual behavior?” 98 percent of those at women’s colleges chose “This is a gay-friendly school.” The percentage was 71 for the group of comparable colleges (an additional 26 said that homosexual behavior is tolerated on campus.)
• When asked, “In your opinion, is your school more liberal or conservative?” 94 percent of students at women’s colleges said their school was liberal or very liberal. For the comparable colleges, that percentage was 68.
• When asked, “What is your school’s norm toward sexual behavior in general?” 49 percent of women’s college respondents chose “Sexual activity is everywhere, and people are open to it.” The percentage of comparable school students who chose that answer was just 28.

This indicates that, in terms of percentage, not only are there more LGBTQA+ students at women’s colleges, but these colleges have a climate that is more liberal and gay-friendly, and high levels of sexual behavior is more of a norm.

Campus Life

We turn now to other aspects of campus life to see how women’s colleges and comparable liberal arts schools differ on aspects such as community, safety, and alcohol use.

Sense of Community

When asked, “How would you rate the sense of community on campus?” most students at both types of schools say the sense of community is “very strong”—63 percent of women’s college attendees and 56 percent at the comparable schools

Cliques

When asked, “How prevalent are social cliques on campus?” students at the comparable schools were twice as likely to say “They play a big part” when compared to students at women’s colleges (31 percent compared to only 15 percent respectively).

Safety

When asked “How safe do you feel on campus, even at night?” the majority of students at both types of schools feel “very safe” – 87 percent at women’s colleges and 77 percent at the comparable schools.

Alcohol Use

When asked, “In your experience, how important is alcohol to the social life at your school?” a significantly higher percentage of students at comparable colleges said that alcohol is an important part of campus life – 79 percent, compared to just 41 percent at women’s colleges.

Drug Use

When asked, “In your experience, how prevalent are illegal drugs on campus (not including marijuana)?” the majority of students at both types of schools said they are “somewhat around” (65 percent for women’s colleges, 70 percent for the comparable colleges). However, a significantly higher percentage of students from the comparable colleges said drugs were an important part of campus life – 16 percent compared to just 4 percent at women’s colleges.

In summary, these measures of campus life indicate that students at women’s colleges and the comparable private schools both enjoy a sense of community and feel safe. However, there appear to be more cliques, alcohol use, and drug use observed and reported by students at the comparable coed schools.

Academic Life

Finally, we can also use Voice of the Student data to compare academic life at women’s colleges versus comparable schools.

Professors

When asked, “How would you describe your relationships with your professors?” 42 percent of students at women’s colleges said “close” while 56 percent of students at the comparable colleges gave that answer.

On other measures of relationships with professors and advisors, the two groups were almost identical. For example, 78 percent of students at women’s colleges are satisfied with the guidance they receive from their advisor and 72 percent say they have at least one professor who makes them excited about learning. For the comparable colleges, these numbers were 80 percent and 71 percent, respectively.

Academic Environment

When asked, “Is the academic environment at your school…” students at women’s colleges were more likely to say their school is competitive rather than collaborative, with 56 percent answering “highly competitive” or “competitive.” Meanwhile, those at the comparable schools were more likely to say their school was more collaborative, with 52 percent answering “collaborative” or “highly collaborative.”

Workload

When asked, “How manageable is the workload at your school?” students at the women’s colleges were much more likely to say it was “difficult” or “extremely difficult” (combined 72 percent) compared to those from the comparable coed schools (combined 60 percent).

When asked, “On average, how much time do you spend studying?” the most common answer for both groups was 18-32 hours per week, or about 2.5-4.5 per day (53-54 percent of each group gave this answer). However, 19 percent of students at women’s colleges said they spend more than 5 hours per day, while only 13 percent of those at the comparable schools gave this response.

Based on the responses of current students, there are differences in the academic environment of the two types of schools. Women’s colleges tend to be more competitive with a heavier workload, while the comparable colleges tend to be more collaborative with closer relationships with professors and a lighter workload.

Summarizing the Differences

When comparing the two groups, we found several interesting differences between women’s colleges and comparable colleges.

First, when applying to schools, students should understand that it can be harder to get into the women’s colleges, as (on average) they approve a lower percentage of applications, have higher average SAT scores and more students who are in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

Comparable schools tend to give more students aid and institutional grants. However, the average amount of aid received per student is higher at women’s colleges.

Women’s colleges have higher Net Promoter Scores on average, indicating that students at women’s colleges are more likely to promote and recommend their college to others.

Women’s colleges are considered more gay-friendly than the comparable schools, but they also are seen as places with high levels of sexual activity. About half of students at women’s colleges say that “sexual activity is everywhere” whereas at comparable schools less than one-third agreed with that statement.

Students at women’s colleges experience a slightly greater sense of community than those at the comparable schools and do not feel as strongly that cliques play a big part of campus life.

The majority of students at both types of colleges say that they feel safe on campus. However, safety ratings were higher at women’s colleges.

Alcohol and drugs appear to be more essential to campus life at comparable colleges versus women’s colleges. A much higher percentage of students at the comparable colleges say drugs and alcohol are an important part of campus life.

Based on the data, students at women’s colleges are more likely to describe their school as competitive, with a difficult workload and extensive studying required. On the other hand, students at comparable colleges were more likely to describe their school as collaborative, and they indicated that they have close relationships with their professors.

 

Doing Your Own Research: Beware the Averages

The IPEDS and CRC datasets have provided an illuminating look at modern women’s colleges as they compare to their coeducational private school counterparts. We have seen how they are similar, where they differ, and how stereotypes stack up against the data.

While this information can help parents and students who are deciding on which colleges to apply to, it is important to point out the weaknesses in aggregated data.

The averages have given us an overall look at women’s colleges (and comparable private schools), but they don’t convey the statistics of individual schools, some of which are quite different from the averages reported here. When applying for colleges, a student is asking to attend a school that has its own specific numbers – and it is those specific numbers that should be researched and considered before sending in the application form.

For example, although women’s colleges on average have a lower “average net price after gift aid” compared to our group of comparable schools ($26,700 versus $29,100), there is one comparable college on our list that has an average net price of $18,900 – lower than every school on our women’s colleges list. Therefore, although women’s colleges may ‘win’ on average, they do not ‘win’ in every one-on-one comparison.

Likewise, the averages do not tell the full story when looking within one group – for example, when trying to narrow down which women’s colleges to apply to or which one to attend.  Some women’s colleges outperform while others underperform. So, for example, the women’s college average 4-year graduation rate of 79 percent does not accurately describe all schools. In fact, one women’s college on our list had a rate of only 61 percent.

This analysis demonstrates that, while the average numbers used here can be helpful in your college research, your actual application decisions should be made by examining and comparing the data of individual schools.