CHEYENNE - Job opportunities in the oil patch are keeping many Wyoming men from seeking college degrees, officials say.
Jim Rose, director of the Wyoming Community College Commission, said the job market is a major reason more women than men attend community colleges in the state.
"There are a lot of jobs still open that attract young men who are able to do reasonably difficult physical labor," Rose said. He said men can earn good money in the oil and gas industries tackling jobs that women often don't seek.
Women made up slightly more than 61 percent of the overall enrollment at the state's seven public community colleges in 2004-2005. In 2005-2006, the percentage of women students fell to 58 percent.
At Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, about 60 percent of the students were women in the 2005-2006 school year. And women at the college also earned far more associates degrees than men that year: 297 for women versus only 121 for men.
Tex Boggs, president of Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, also said the ongoing energy boom is drawing some men away from the classroom.
"So many young men can make $20, $30 or $40 an hour that they're not going to college right away," Boggs said.
Western Wyoming Community College had more male than female students last year, but Boggs credits the many short programs the college offers that focus on oil and gas production for that. He said more women are enrolled in the longer degree programs.
Tom Mortenson, a senior scholar with the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, said the K-12 educational system bears part of the blame for the number of boys who don't pursue higher education.
"Boys seem to be getting turned off before they even get to high school," Mortenson said. He's part of an effort called The Boys Project that's intended to help young males succeed in college.
Mortenson said traditional jobs that men could do without having a college degree, such as manufacturing and farming, are disappearing. Meanwhile, other fields that need an increasing number of people, such as health care, demand a college education. But while women are getting this message, Mortenson said men are not.
Men without college degrees also earn more money than women without degrees.
Jacqueline King, director of the Center for Policy Analysis division of the American Council on Education, said the median income for women ages 25 to 34 who have a high school diploma is $18,650. She said the median income for men in the same group is $30,000.
Sara Axelson, vice president for student affairs at the University of Wyoming, said UW is bucking the trend of seeing more female than male students pursuing higher education. She said the number of men and women is about even in Laramie.
"We've been pretty even for a long period of time," Axelson said.
Although women make up 54 percent of the enrollment this spring at UW, Axelson said that's mostly because of the large number of women in the university's outreach programs.
Maggi Murdoch, program dean, said the outreach schools typically attract female students who are 30 or older.
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