There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what it’s like to attend a women’s college.

The Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University and the Women’s College Coalition come together to investigate questions related to the relevance and utility of women’s universities today. In this joint edition, researchers from four WCC member institutions investigate the modern “value add” of women’s universities (both qualitatively and quantitatively), showcase specific institutional initiatives that are advancing the gender equity agenda, and promote rigorous conversation on how women’s universities are positively impacting women and girls.

Research on women’s colleges has focused primarily on students, generally documenting academic and social benefits of attending these institutions. However, it is also important to explore the professoriate at women’s colleges, as faculty play an important role in shaping the climate for students. One question is whether faculty at women’s colleges are similar to those teaching at small, liberal arts colleges, or whether they might be additionally characterized as highlighting “womencentered” educational approaches.

This report describes forty-year trends in the women’s college population by examining how the backgrounds, characteristics, and predispositions of women’s college attendees have shifted over the past four decades and how these shifts compare to women at coeducational institutions.

In the 1960's, there were more than 200 women's colleges in the U.S. Now there are fewer than 50. Given that there are more than 80% fewer women's colleges today, there is often a misperception that women's colleges are more threatened than their co-ed counterparts. However, this assumption discounts the fact that the face of higher education has changed dramatically for all institutions. This report provides ten-year trends in enrollment, retention and revenue at women's colleges versus private coeducational colleges.

To what extent does gender relate to the intensity and extent of student engagement?

Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success

A Comparative Alumnae Research Study Update

A Comparative Alumnae Research Study