In this paper, we present a comprehensive framework for understanding gender inequality in baccalaureate degree attainment. Our “college pipeline” model addresses two main shortcomings in prior research. First, we examine multiple outcomes and stages in the pipeline that lead to four-year college entry and completion. Second, we examine multiple different pathways that students can pursue in attaining a four-year degree. Our findings indicate that females enjoy a cumulative advantage over males in the pursuit of a baccalaureate degree, but with two important exceptions. First, although females are more likely apply to college at the end of high school, they are also more likely to terminate their schooling in a two-year college than comparable males. Second, females who make an on-time transition into a four-year college experience the greatest advantages over males, and females who delay entering the college pipeline actually do no better than males in attaining a bachelor’s degree.
The growing gender gap in college enrollment and attainment is one of the most important trends in American education during the past 30 years. The female advantage in bachelor’s degree attainment increased during the 1990s, and higher percentages of females are both attending and graduating from four-year colleges (U.S. Department of Education, 2002 and U.S. Department of Education, 2004).1 These divergent trends in educational attainment by gender are enormously important because earning a bachelor’s degree is a powerful predictor of many adult outcomes, such as income, occupational attainment, health, etc. (Pallas, 2000).
In this paper, we argue that prior research on gender differences in baccalaureate attainment has focused too narrowly on four-year enrollment and completion (e.g., Buchmann and DiPrete, 2006 and Jacob, 2002). We present a more comprehensive framework for understanding gender inequality in educational attainment, which addresses two main shortcomings in prior research. First, we will examine how gender inequality unfolds as a process that includes numerous interconnected and interdependent outcomes. Our analyses will explore the transition into college in greater depth than prior research and examine several important stages (such as on-time college application) that lead students into the college pipeline. Second, we will examine gender differences in the many different paths to a bachelor’s degree — e.g., “on-time” entry, delayed entry, and two-to-four-year transfer. Prior research suggests that some of these pathways are more likely to lead to a baccalaureate degree than others. However, no research has examined how gender differences in these pathways are related to female advantages in bachelor’s degree attainment.
Our findings indicate that women are advantaged at each intermediate stage that leads to a baccalaureate degree, with the important exception of college enrollment. Among comparable male and female students, females are more likely to attend a two-year college (and go no further) than enroll directly in a four-year institution. This inequality in enrollment is striking given that we find a significant female advantage in college application. Among students who attend a four-year college, females regain their advantage in the final stage of the process (college completion), although females who delay college entry lose their advantage over males in completion. Overall, the findings suggest a pattern of cumulative advantage for females who make an on-time transition into college, but not for women who delay the decision to attend a four-year college.
