Today, there are more college students than ever.  Many of these students are enrolled for longer than the typical four years, waiting for a pickup in the national job market.  Presently, female students outnumber males by a wide margin on a national scale.  More women are attending, and more of them are graduating.

According to the National Council on Education, women represent 57 percent of college students in the U.S., which is a figure that has remained consistent since 2000.

That gender gap is true of the student body here at Oakland University.

For years, women at Oakland have been the majority.   The university’s website lists the enrollment for fall 2010 at 10,748 women and 6,682 men.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, OU has a make up of 62 percent female students while overall, Oakland County is comprised of 51 percent female.

A number of factors have played into the gender disparity, but no one factor emerges as a single explanation.

“I don’t think that (a single factor) can account for what we’re seeing today,” said Jo Reger, associate professor of sociology and director of women’s studies at Oakland.   “There are many reasons.”

One of the most prominent reasons is the opportunity available to students at OU.

In the past few decades, many people have deferred marriage and childbearing into their mid-to-late twenties.  And, as opposed to previous generations, women today have taken on roles that were formerly considered nontraditional.  The demographics of the workforce and have shifted as women have taken on alternative roles.

“We no longer live in that world,” said Reger.   “Today’s women have opportunities that did not present themselves to previous generations.”

Today, women have more choices and the ability to select a career, rather than holding a temporary job or a being a full-time mother.

“My mother didn’t go to college.   She didn’t want to be a nurse, a teacher, or a librarian.  College didn’t offer much to her,” said Reger.  “Jobs for women were limited.  There was a very narrow scope of what you, as a woman, could do.”

“College (for women) was a stepping stone to a job, not a career,” Reger said. “And even then, if a woman had a college education accessible to her, it was rare that she could do with it what a man could.”

Expectations have changed along with the lives of today’s women.  No longer expected to live strictly in the home or to be taken care of by a spouse, women often contribute to family income as their husbands do.

“It’s an interesting time for men, women and families,” said Reger.

Much of society places expectations on women and men to create income for their families.  The traditional sentiment that women aren’t expected to hold jobs has been pushed far from popular thought.

“The financial benefit is real for women.  There’s more to it now,” said Reger.  “Many more women are in college today for a very practical reason – college pays.”