The Economic and Social Decline of Women\u27s Colleges Across the United States

Despite women attending college at a greater rate than men for several decades, women’s colleges have been shutting down—or transitioning to coeducation—at incredibly high rates. Literature demonstrates the importance of women’s colleges due to their benefits on students’ future career success and psychological wellbeing. However, there is less research concerning the decline of women\u27s colleges, and none regarding the economic and quantitative factors influencing their closures. The research I conducted led to the creation of a completely original data set, which I utilized to perform a logistic regression and analyze variables related to the survival of women’s colleges. I find a high statistical significance of an institution\u27s date of establishment, particularly during the Progressive Era. I also determine there is moderate statistical significance for colleges located near metropolitan counties. I then discuss cases of five different former or current women’s colleges and conclude with predictions for the future of women’s colleges and the necessity for investment in them