Women 56% of College Undergraduates in 2006

USA Today reports:

Colleges and universities these days are seeing a surge in enrollment — and it's increasingly driven by young women, according to U.S. Census data out today.

The numbers confirm years of enrollment data showing that women have not only closed the college enrollment gap — they have far surpassed men on campuses. For every four men enrolled in graduate school in 2006, there were nearly six women.

The numbers are disturbing to Leonard Sax, a Maryland psychologist, family physician and author of Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men. He says the data present a picture of "more and more young men who don't seem to have the drive that their sisters have."

Part of the Census Bureau's American Community Survey of 3 million households, the 2006 data are significant because they're the first since 2000 to survey Americans living in "group quarters" such as college dormitories, military barracks, nursing homes and prisons.

While the number of both male and female students rose between 2000 and 2006, the survey found, women outpaced men in both undergraduate and graduate programs. In that period, the nation's undergraduate enrollment swelled by nearly 2.7 million students, 18.7%, but the percentage who were male fell 1.2 points, to 44%.

Women in 2006 made up 56% of undergrads, up from 54.8% in 2000.

No word yet from the Women's Studies Departments on this one.