The North Wind (Northern Michigan U.)
(U-WIRE) MARQUETTE, Mich.-If you’re walking into a room where nearly six in 10 people are female, it doesn’t necessarily mean you just opened the door to a salon or bridal shop. If the atmosphere around you is littered with purple and pink, it doesn’t mean you’re around a bunch of guys who are in touch with their feminine side. It could very well mean that you are entering a normal college campus that fits the statistical norm.
In 1970, males made up 58 percent of all college undergrads at public universities across the nation. Thirty-five years later, over 57 percent of students at college campuses are female, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Education.
While Northern Michigan University’s neighbors from the north, Michigan Tech, had a population that was more than three-quarters male as of 2004, Northern closely parallels the national trend.
As of the fall semester nearly 54 percent of NMU’s population is female and there are 710 more women than men on campus. The gap was only 438 as recent as 2003.
Forty-seven percent of females that enroll at NMU graduate from Northern with a degree within six years, while only 38 percent of males do. Also, females have had a higher average grade point average every semester since 1998, according to NMU Institutional Research.