Gender Differences in Well-Being for College Graduates Ten Years After Earning Their Degrees

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers data on the well-being of people who graduated from college in the 2007-08 academic year, 10 years after they completed their bachelor’s degrees.

Here are some of the highlights of the report with regards to gender differences.

• Some 63.5 percent of women who graduated from college in the 2007-08 academic year owned their home 10 years later in 2018. For men, the figure was 61.6 percent.
• More than 21 percent of women reported a negative net worth 10 years after earning their bachelor’s degrees. For men, 18.1 percent had a negative net worth.
• Almost 16 percent of women reported that they “did not meet essential expenses in the past 12 months.” For men, the figure was 10.5 percent.
• More than 28 percent of women who earned a bachelor’s degree in the 2007-08 academic year had earned a master’s degree 10 years later. Only 24.8 percent of men had earned a master’s degree. Men were slightly more likely than women to earn a doctorate or professional degree within 10 years of graduating from college.
• Ten years after earning their bachelor’s degree, women worked on average 37.7 hours a week, compared to 42 hours for men. For full-time workers, women had an average income of $71,518 compared to an average income of men of $91,524.
• In 2018, 81.7 percent of women who graduated from college in the 2007-08 academic year had health insurance through their employer. For men, the rate was 86.3.
• Only 43.8 percent of women college graduates were in supervisory positions at work compared to 54 percent of men.