Among students who enrolled at AACC for the spring 2024 semester, 61.6% were women and 38.4% were men, according to AACC’s Office of Planning, Research and Institutional Assessment.

This is higher than the national average of 58% for women and 42% for men, according to the American Association of Community Colleges.

“I think male students, just in general, have different [societal] demands,” Erin Reeder, the college’s director of enrollment services integration, said. “Males in particular may feel more pressure to earn money right out of high school … just to support their families.”

Plus, Reeder said: “I think [men] nowadays have more options available to them. There’s not the, ‘Oh gosh, if you don’t go to college, you’re not going to get a good job’ because there are certainly good jobs in the trades.”

Although the college is “not super concerned” about low male enrollment rates, it is still trying to reach out to potential students with promotional materials and student services like the Student Achievement and Success Program, Reeder said.

According to Reeder, the statistics are almost flipped for AACC’s trade school, housed in the Clauson Center, whose enrollment is 31% women compared with 68% men.

In addition, AACC’s Student Right-to-Know Disclosure reported that 24% of degree-seeking men who enrolled in the college in 2020 graduated within three years, compared with 30% of women.

Tariq Muhammad, a second-year game design student, said the numbers make sense, saying most men “opt to do something more hands on, like blue-collar work.”

“But it’s [still] a little shocking,” Muhammad said. “I think college is something that everyone should try. … I know just from my experience that being in college has really opened up my eyes.”