Advocate Online

They're Talking On Campus.

. . . About new findings on how adolescent boys and girls’ expectations of attending college contribute to the growing gender gap in college enrollments.

Researchers at Florida State University looked at a U.S. Education Department study that followed nearly 10,000 students nationwide over several years.

As eighth graders in 1988, 82 percent of females expected to earn college degrees, while only 78 percent of males said the same.

Six years later, 55 percent of females and 51 percent of males were enrolled in a higher education institution. Female eighth graders were also more likely than males to report receiving support from parents and teachers in their schooling.

. . . About the debunking of the myth of rampant grade inflation in the nation's colleges. The C is alive and well at most of the nation’s postsecondary institutions, says a report from the U.S. Education Department.

In a study of 16.5 million undergraduates during the 1999-2000 school year, researchers found that while 14.5 percent of students received mostly A’s, more than a third of students received grades mostly at or below the C mark.

The report, Profile of Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Education Institutions: 1999-2000, also includes information on race, gender, and other demographic data, where undergraduates enroll and what they study, and risk factors that affect whether students complete their studies and earn a degree.