(Washington) (MENS) A recent publication of the National Center for Education Statistics, titled “Statistics and Trends in Education: 1965-66” contains some interesting predictions for the future of education in America.
While the pool of high school graduates, the raw material of college freshman classes, increased 19 per cent in the period from 1965 to 1975, that sure pool will decline, so projected by Bureau of Census figures, some 14 per cent in the act ten years.
Even given this decline in population, higher education enrollments will continue to grow, though at such smaller rates than statistics based upon figures predicted by the Center, and by the Education Divison of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
In the decade preceding 1975, total postsecondary enrollment rose 89 per cent, from 59 million to 11.2 million students in the 1975-76 school year. The projected I increase in the period 1965-1975 will be only 19 per cent, to intal of just under 13.4 million.
Two-year institutions will continue to increase in popularity, though not as dramatically as the past decade. Enrollment in two-year institutions more than tripled in the last decade (230 per cent increase) and are expected to grow another 49 per cent in the next decade, to a total of over 5.7 million students. During that period, enrollment in four-year institutions is projected to increase only 19 per cent, to 7.5 million.
Women continue to make advances in the percentage of enrollment, and will have achieved near-equal representation by 1983. In 1965, women constituted only 38 per cent of total enrollment in postsecondary institutions. Female enrollment increased 120 per cent over the past decade, while male enrollment has increased only 12 per cent. Projections for the next decade show women’s enrollment increasing another 29 per cent, while male enrollment will rise by only 12 per year. According to these figures, by 1986 women will make up over 48 per cent of all degrees granted in postsecondary institutions.
Still further movements toward female/male parity can be seen in the area of earned degrees. The number of women receiving degrees increased 92 per cent during the decade from 1965 to 1975-6 (male degrees increased 62 per cent). But over the next ten years, the number of female degree recipients is expected to increase another 11 per cent, while the total number of males earning degrees will actually decrease about 1 per cent. By the school year 1985-6, over 49.6 per cent of all degrees granted will be earned by women, with women actually receiving more degrees than men the following year.