Women's Colleges
Joseph S. Falzone, Peirce College
Objectives
In this paper I examine a young woman's choice to attend a women's college rather than a coeducational institution. The literature on the economics of education stresses investment in human capital in the decision to pursue post secondary higher education. Although human capital theory does not exclude the view of higher education as a consumer good, its focus is on the increase in lifetime earnings that results from investment in education. In this context, human capital theory suggests that the decision to attend a women's college implies some premium which may be captured, in part, by examining the variables that affect the choice to attend a women's colleges. A clearer picture of this choice should provide a better understanding of investment in higher education and the future of women's colleges in general.
Traditionally women's colleges have assumed a unique role in higher education. Women's colleges began to appear in the United States during the late 19th Century. From their beginning, the priority of women's colleges has been the education of women. Their raison d'être has been to provide women with a nurturing environment and to help them develop the self-esteem that is considered a prerequisite for success. Advocates of women's colleges point to research indicating that graduation from a women's college is a better predictor of success than any other variable.
Nonetheless, there are trends that call into question the viability of single sex colleges. When the shift towards coeducational institutions began in the early 1970s there were over 300 women's colleges; only 73 remained in 2000, down from 88 in 1989. By the 1990s, most women's colleges had either closed or had become coeducational. Of those that remain, enrollment growth has taken place mostly in programs and degrees that are open to both women and men.
If women's colleges are to remain viable, then their mission and purpose must be based on attributes more compelling than "tradition"; rather, their viability must rest on empirically verifiable grounds that offer women a distinct alternative to coeducational colleges and universities.
Data will be extracted from the National Educational Longitudinal Study 1988/94 (NEL). The sample consists of approximately 25,000 students who were in the 8th grade in 1988. NEL provides access to their post secondary school choice as well as transition to post secondary schools and to work. Data include information on schools, family, and community. I shall utilize cross section data from the 1992 follow-up study.
I employ a Probit Model to estimate the college choice of traditional age women entering as freshmen. The model focuses on the analysis of qualitative dependent variables to predict college choice. The sample is divided into two categories based on whether the woman chooses a women's college or a coeducational institution. The dependent variable takes on two distinct values: 1 if she chooses a women's college and 0 if she chooses a coeducational institution.
I hypothesize that if women's colleges offer more than tradition, then the significance, sign, and magnitude of student and institution specific variables will differ from students who choose a women's college and those who choose a coeducational institution. Women's college purport to offer women something more than coeducational institutions offer. Since their emphasis is on the liberal arts, education at women's colleges may be viewed as possessing more consumer good attributes. I hypothesize then that variables measuring the real cost of education as well as those variables measuring the cost-benefit ratio will be less important in the decision making process for those who choose to attend a women's college.
Women's colleges have reached a crossroads and their very existence has been brought into question. Do they offer women an alternative to (male dominated) coeducational institutions or are they a relic whose existence is based merely upon tradition? This preliminary study is one step towards placing the question within the context of empirical analysis.