How Women Are Using College To Close The Pay Gap With Men

It's lamentable that when Women's History Month rolls around every March, Americans still find themselves pondering the gender pay gap.

Since they earn less, it will take them longer to pay that debt off, according to a recent report by the American Association of University Women.

Before diving into that report, let’s look at another that puts today’s situation in historical context. Consider that 100 years ago, men and women were making their way to class in equal numbers at college campuses around the country.

That's right: From 1900 to 1930, the ratio of women to men enrolled in college was 1:1, according to, "The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap," a deep dive into the subject by Harvard University economists Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko.

How women closed the college gender gap

After World War II, returning soldiers attending college on the GI bill flooded campuses across the nation. By 1947 men outnumbered women in college lecture halls 2.3 to 1. This was not just a temporary, post-war glitch. As recently as 1960, most men (54 percent) who completed high school were enrolling in college, but only 38 percent of women took the same path.

But during the 1960s and '70s, as the women’s rights movement took off, there was a massive "homecoming" of women to college campuses. Women have outnumbered men on U.S. college campuses for nearly four decades now, regaining parity with men in 1979. Today, nearly three out of four young women enroll in college after completing high school or obtaining their G.E.D., compared to 66 percent of men.

So why does the gender pay gap still exist? One factor is that, historically, there have been some important differences in the types of degrees men and women pursued -- and what they did with their degrees after they earned them.

All those women attending college in the early 1900s? Many were attending teacher-training colleges, in pursuit of a crucial but not particularly well-compensated profession. Others earned their degrees and got married, curtailing or never even embarking on a career, the authors of "The Homecoming of American College Women" note.

Until the mid-70s, women tended to major in education or English, and if they entered the labor force they often did so as teachers or social workers. That picture has changed, and today women are just as likely as men to enter many high-paying fields.

Women now earn most of the degrees awarded in the biological and biomedical sciences -- and not just bachelor's degrees, but master's and doctor's degrees as well. Women have similarly come to dominate fields like journalism and public relations, and health.

But although women have made strides toward gaining parity in fields like math and statistics, they remain seriously underrepresented in more than a few science, technology, engineering and science (STEM) fields like architecture, computer and information sciences, and engineering.

In the 1950s and 1960s, women earned less than 10 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded to business majors. Since the turn of the century, women have been walking off the stage at graduation with half of the business degrees.

College narrowing the gender pay gap

So how have the strides women have made on campus translated to the workplace?

Returning to that report by the American Association of University Women, “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap,” there's good news and bad news.

All those business degrees women are earning? In many cases, those degrees have put them on track to claim positions in the executive ranks and boardrooms of top U.S. companies. But they continue to be underrepresented. The AAUW reports that women held only 26 percent of executive positions at private sector companies in 2015.

That could be one explanation for the fact that even though women have long since closed the campus gender gap, they still made just 80 cents for every dollar men were paid in 2015. But that statistic also requires closer examination.

It turns out that if you account for factors like the college you went to, your major and GPA, occupation, hours worked, age, occupation and marital status, the wage gap between female and male graduates closes to around 7 percent.

That’s small consolation, because once you’ve accounted for those and other potentially confounding factors, the only plausible explanation for that gap is gender discrimination and bias, the authors of “The Simple Truth” point out. And the gap is even more dramatic for African American and Hispanic women, who also face racial discrimination and bias.

The student loan gender gap

Adding insult to injury, women tend to have to borrow more to obtain a college degree than men. That means it takes them longer to pay that debt off.

The AAUW report finds that among members of the class of 2008 who had landed full-time jobs, men took out an average of $22,656 in student loan debt to get their college degrees, and had paid off 44 percent of it by 2012. Their female classmates took on $24,126 in educational debt, and had only paid off 33 percent four years after graduation. African American and Hispanic women graduating in 2008 were able to pay off only about 10 percent of their student loan debt during the same time period.

The authors of "The Homecoming of American College Women" conclude that, "The jury is still out concerning whether the full lifetime economic returns to college are greater for women than for men.”

But that doesn’t mean that the investment that women make to obtain a college degree doesn’t pay off. As we’ve seen, a college degree can close the wage gap from 20 percent to 7 percent. But the type of degree is also important.

There’s a wealth of information on college costs and outcomes that help can prospective students and their families evaluate the potential return on investment (ROI). This is crucial research for any college-bound student, regardless of gender, race or economic status.

The point is not that students should only pursue degrees that will help them land high-paying jobs, but that any borrowing they do should reflect the expected earning power of the degree they’re shooting for. Many financial advisors suggest that students try to limit their total debt load at graduation to no more than your expected annual salary.

The good news for women who are already out in the workforce and chipping away at their student loan debt is that most borrowers who obtain a degree are able to repay their loans. It’s those who don’t graduate, or get skills that make them valuable to employers, who are most likely to default.

It’s worth noting that graduates who have landed a job and established a track record of paying their loans may be able to accelerate the process by refinancing their loans at a lower interest rate (Disclosure: I am the founder and CEO of Credible, a marketplace for refinancing student loan debt).

While refinancing is often thought of as something that only for doctors and lawyers with six-figure incomes can qualify for, many recent graduates are refinancing educational debt that rivals or exceeds their annual salaries.

So what can be done about the fact that, all other things being equal, men are still compensated more generously than women?

The Equal Pay Act hasn’t been updated since 1963, so the AAUW threw its weight behind the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have bolstered that law and given federal regulators more enforcement powers. Despite attracting 193 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, the bill died in committee.

Many states have their own pay equity laws, so the group urges voters to take action where they live. The AAUW also wants to see more companies conducting salary audits to make sure they're thinking proactively about the problem.

The AAUW’s website provides more information about women's workplace rights, and the group offers salary negotiation workshops aimed at helping women the salaries, benefits, and promotions.

Written for Forbes by Stephen Dash who is the founder of Credible.com, a marketplace for student loans and student loan refinancing that lets borrowers request personalized rates and compare options with vetted lenders