FORT WAYNE, Ind. As a single man, Alex O’Shaughnessey doesn’t mind being outnumbered by women. At least not at school, he says.
“It’s not just that there are more women on campus this year,” O’Shaughnessey says. “There are significantly more women, I’ve noticed. But I’m a bachelor, so it doesn’t bother me.”
Between classes at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, O’Shaughnessey can usually be found sitting next to a couple of friends on an upholstered bench in the basement of Kettler Hall. On a recent Tuesday, the room around them was filled with women pairs of women trading class notes, single women sipping coffee and reading, women joining both male and female friends at tables near the bookstore.
“We’re outnumbered,” O’Shaughnessey said, narrowing his eyes. “This doesn’t mean women are smarter than men, right?”
While the number of both male and female students continues to rise, the increase in college students is being driven primarily by women, according to recent census numbers. In Indiana, for example, women made up 56 percent of college enrollment in 2006, up from 53 percent in 2000.
Nationally, nearly six out of 10 college students were women in 2006. And the same is true in Allen County. There were almost 50 percent more females than males enrolled in Allen County colleges in 2006. At IPFW specifically, there are 1,600 more women than men this fall.
Experts say the reasons range from changing societal norms to boys giving up on academics as early as middle school.
