Examining Why Men Stopped out of Community College

Over four years have passed since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and colleges and universities across the nation are still navigating the impacts on higher education. Although enrollment has increased for two years in a row since the pandemic, and this growth has been highest at community colleges, there are still many students who stopped out of their programs and have not returned. Here, stop-outs are defined as those students who enrolled anytime between January 2020 and July 2023 and are no longer enrolled. Our previous research indicates that reasons for stopping out are now more related to economic concerns than pandemic-related ones.

In order to understand the reasons that students stopped out of their programs, New America surveyed current and former community college students in November and December 2023. In this piece, we aim to better understand the reasons that men stopped out. We focus on men in particular because their enrollment decline was steepest after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly at public 2-year institutions, and recovery has been slow. We underscore differences between men and women in their reasons for stopping out, likelihood of returning to school, and attitudes about online learning.

Differences between men and women in reasons for stopping out

Roughly seven in ten men (71 percent) cite having to work as a driving reason for their stopping out, which is very similar to the response provided by women (68 percent). Approximately half of men also cite no longer being able to afford their program (51 percent) and a loss of self-motivation (48 percent) as contributing to their decision to not remain enrolled in their program. (See Table 1).

More of a gender divide emerges, however, when a question over job opportunities is presented. Forty-six percent of men share that they did not re-enroll because there were more job opportunities available to them, compared with just 30 percent of women. A quarter of men also report a loss of employment contributing to their stopping out, compared with 20 percent of women. The job market and general interest in getting straight to work could help explain why men are stopping out.

A final difference that emerges relates to caregiving: men (28 percent) are also more likely than women (18 percent) to cite caregiving responsibilities for another adult in the house as a reason for their stopping out. This contrasts with caregiving responsibilities for a child, which women (37 percent) are more likely to cite as a reason for their stopping out than men (25 percent).

Men are less likely to re-enroll in their programs

We also find that men are slightly less likely to re-enroll in their programs than women. Sixty-one percent of men indicate that they do not have plans to enroll again in the future, compared with 56 percent of women. More specifically, approximately half (48 percent) of men are not at all likely to enroll, which is significantly higher than women (36 percent). (See Figure 1).

This may be explained by the idea that men are less likely to need a credential for the career they aspire to have. Just 44 percent of men report needing a license for the field they want to work in, compared with a slight majority (54 percent) of women. (See Figure 2).

Men and women also report differing interests regarding what fields they want to pursue: one in four women (24 percent) express an interest in health sciences, whereas the top fields of interest reported by men include business and marketing (17 percent), computer and information sciences (17 percent), and engineering and architecture (12 percent).

Men report greater dissatisfaction with online learning

Other questions where we see a gender divide are about how respondents felt about their experiences with online learning. Men (36 percent) are more likely than women (28 percent) to say that they were not satisfied with the quality of these online classes. (See Figure 3).

Further, the largest proportion of men (39 percent) express a preference for a fully in-person learning model, which is significantly higher than the percentage of women (24 percent). Women are more likely to prefer a mix of in-person and online coursework (39 percent). Just one in five men (19 percent) demonstrate a preference for fully online learning. (See Figure 4).

When asked to consider why they prefer a fully in-person learning model, the top reasons provided by men with this preference include being able to get live feedback and questions answered (24 percent), being able to interact and develop relationships other students and faculty (20 percent), being able to concentrate in the classroom setting (17 percent), and an improved quality of education (17 percent). (See Figure 5).

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate some similarities between men and women regarding the economic reasons they stop out, but also show that men are more likely to report job availability as a contributing factor to their decision not to re-enroll. Men also indicate that they are less likely to return to community college in comparison to women, which may be related to not needing the licensure for their field. Finally, these data show that men reported greater dissatisfaction with the quality of online learning when compared to women. As community colleges seek to understand the reasons that men stopped out of their programs, these findings provide valuable insight about the factors behind their decision-making processes.

Notes

[1] Our survey looks into two groups of students at community college: “continuers,” who enrolled anytime between January 2020 and July 2023 and continued enrollment in fall of 2023, and “stop-outs,” who enrolled anytime between January 2020 and July 2023 and are no longer enrolled. This survey includes an oversample of respondents who are caregivers and was conducted in November-December 2023.