Are Two-Year Colleges the Key to Expanding the Scientific Labor Force?

• In Event: 75.056 - STEM Education and Society

Abstract

This manuscript uses Beginning Postsecondary (BPS) data and a propensity score design to compare women’s STEM degree attainment at two- and four-year colleges, with a focus on the natural/engineering science fields that remain the most sex-segregated. Results indicate that men have a 14.7 percent higher probability of majoring in natural/engineering sciences, while women have a higher probability of majoring in life and social/behavioral sciences. No significant gender difference is found between students at two- and four-year colleges in major selection, except that both men and women attending two-year colleges are more likely to major in life sciences. Results suggest that two-year colleges maintain the gender gap in STEM.

Authors

• Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University

• Kirby Thomas, Florida State University

• Samantha Nix, Florida State University

• Jordan Hopkins, Florida State University