Hopeful young entrepreneurs in business schools routinely pitch ideas for startup companies as part of their classroom assignments. But the ones who were doing it at the University of Vermont were still in high school.
It was the inaugural Vermont Pitch Challenge, to which nearly had submitted their entrepreneurial brainstorms. The final five had come to the campus to battle it out for the grand prize: a full-tuition scholarship to UVM.
Their ideas included a website to help previously incarcerated applicants get jobs, a nonprofit to provide mental health support to competitive snowboarders, a medical device to prevent the recurrence of a herniated disk, a company to rent equipment to farmers in St. Croix and an invention to sustainably recharge laptops, phones and tablets.
This competition wasn鈥檛 solely about helping the planet or improving medicine, health, employment opportunities or agriculture, however.
It was part of a long-term strategy to increase the number of men at a university where .
Painstaking research had suggested that entrepreneurship programs could appeal to high school boys considering going to college. The findings appeared to be right: More boys than girls had entered the pitch contest. And the university hoped that some would eventually enroll.
鈥淲e want to make sure that we are in front of any eligible student who is able to pursue their education at the University of Vermont, or in the state of Vermont.鈥�Jay Jacobs, vice provost for enrollment management, University of Vermont
The approach is among a fast-growing number of efforts to increase the number of men in college, which has been declining steadily.
鈥淲e thought that this idea would attract men,鈥� said Jay Jacobs, UVM鈥檚 vice provost for enrollment management, who declared himself pleased with the results. 鈥淲e thought that this idea would attract racial and ethnically diverse students. We thought that this idea would attract what I鈥檒l call geographically diverse students, students not just from Vermont or New England.鈥�
The university needs all of those kinds of recruits. Vermont has , by median age, making it harder to find students generally. That鈥檚 even before a dramatic decline in the number of 18-year-olds about to hit the rest of the rest of the country starting next year.
鈥淗ere, we鈥檝e already felt the impacts of the quote, unquote 鈥榙emographic cliff,鈥欌�� said Jacobs. 鈥淲e want to make sure that we are in front of any eligible student who is able to pursue their education at the University of Vermont, or in the state of Vermont.鈥�
That particularly includes men. The proportion of applicants to the university who are male has declined from 44 percent in 2010 to 33 percent today, an analysis of federal data shows.
鈥淎t conferences, when we [enrollment managers] are in rooms together, we all know that this male enrollment gap is something that we鈥檙e all going to have to deal with.鈥�Jay Jacobs, vice provost for enrollment management, University of Vermont
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鈥淚 definitely do notice that,鈥� said Melinda Wetzel, a junior who was having coffee with a friend in the student center. 鈥淚n my big lecture halls, I鈥檇 say there are more women. And I do have one small class where there is only one guy.鈥�
It isn鈥檛 just this university that鈥檚 searching for new ways to recruit men.
The number of men enrolled in college nationwide has , or almost 6 percent, in just the last five years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The proportion of college students who are men is now , the U.S. Department of Education says. That鈥檚 a complete reversal of the situation 50 years ago, when in college by about the same extent.
Men are also out, the Clearinghouse reports.
鈥淎t conferences, when we鈥檙e in rooms together, we all know that this male enrollment gap is something that we鈥檙e going to have to deal with,鈥� said Jacobs, whose office window overlooks the university鈥檚 grand historic main quad.
The ways universities are trying to address this vary widely.
The University of Montana 鈥� whose from nearly 16,000 to about 10,000 in the last 10 years, and 鈥� found in focus groups that many of the men it was trying to recruit were interested in the outdoors. So this spring it sent targeted emails to prospective students highlighting its hunting class, forestry program and recreational opportunities.
鈥淗ave you ever eaten fresh meat that you harvested yourself?鈥� one of the emails asks. 鈥淎pply to UM and develop a closer bond to the landscape than ever before.鈥� Another shows a brawny, bearded man cutting wood. 鈥淓mbrace the wilderness, embrace the axe,鈥� it says. 鈥淭here are few other connections with the natural world better than swinging a sharp axe with the smell of pine in your nose.鈥�
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Admitted applicants considering whether or not to enroll are also sent bingo-style checkoff cards with images of hiking, ski and cowboy boots. Other promotional materials include images of country-and-western shows on campus.
Housing deposits from men 鈥� which is how the university measures who will be enrolling in the fall, as it doesn鈥檛 require enrollment deposits 鈥� are up since the campaign began, said Kelly Nolin, director of undergraduate admissions.
鈥淯ltimately all students want to know, 鈥楢m I going to fit in? Do I belong?鈥欌�� said Nolin.
Among prospective applicants who are increasingly asking those questions, she said, are men from religious conservative families, at a time when universities are accused of being bastions of left-wing cancel culture. 鈥淲e want them to know they won鈥檛 be criticized for their beliefs.鈥�
鈥淯ltimately all students want to know, 鈥楢m I going to fit in? Do I belong?鈥欌��Kelly Nolin, director of undergraduate admissions, University of Montana
Further west, the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center has gotten money from the ECMC Foundation and other men of color. (ECMC is also among the many funders of The Hechinger Report.)
鈥淚f, in fact, colleges and universities want to recruit and enroll and ultimately retain and graduate more men, they have to have a strategy,鈥� said Shaun Harper, founder and executive director of the center. 鈥淚t has to be based on input and insights from college men themselves.鈥�
Instead of trying to figure out why so many men forgo college or give up on it after starting, he said, institutions should ask, 鈥淲ait a minute, what about the ones who are here and are successful?鈥� Harper said. 鈥淲hat were the factors that enabled their enrollment and their ultimate degree attainment? There鈥檚 a lot that we can learn from them that we could scale and adapt to everyone else.鈥�
He and others said they were skeptical of some efforts to enroll more men, such as doubling down on sports by adding more men鈥檚 teams in the hope that it will lure more male students, as some colleges are doing.
鈥淚鈥檓 just not sure that institutions understand the full range of young men鈥檚 interests, and so they tend to default to things like forestry and outdoor adventures.鈥�Shaun Harper, founder and director, University of Southern California Race and Equity Center
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鈥淭hey鈥檙e not all on sports teams. So that shouldn鈥檛 be the only lever that we pull,鈥� said Harper. And even if highlighting hunting might be effective in Montana, 鈥渋t feels so presumptuous about what really appeals to men. I鈥檓 just not sure that institutions understand the full range of young men鈥檚 interests, and so they tend to default to things like forestry and outdoor adventures. I鈥檓 not sure that would work in California or Maryland.鈥�
Whatever does work, universities are under growing pressure to figure it out. Overall enrollment has in the 10 years through 2022, the most recent period for which the figures are available from the U.S. Department of Education. is projected to begin next year.
鈥淚f, in fact, colleges and universities want to recruit and enroll and ultimately retain and graduate more men, they have to have a strategy. It has to be based on input and insights from college men themselves.鈥�Shaun Harper, founder and director, University of Southern California Race and Equity Center
And there are signs that the problem of attracting men is only likely to get worse.
Of high school boys in Vermont whose parents don鈥檛 have four-year degrees, for instance, themselves, down from 58 percent in 2018, and much lower than the 68 percent of girls who do, a survey found. Even among high school students with at least one parent who has a bachelor鈥檚 degree, 87 percent of girls say they want to go to college, compared to 78 percent of boys.
The problem begins early. Girls than boys, and are more likely to graduate. In the 37 states that report high school graduation rates by gender, , compared to 82 percent of boys, a 2018 study by the Brookings Institution found. Boys are more likely to think they for the jobs they want, the Pew Research Center found, or go into the trades. Even if they do enroll in colleges, work opportunities lure them away. Men who dropped out of community college are more likely than women to say it was , according to a survey by the think tank New America.
That went through John Truslow鈥檚 mind when he was deciding whether or not to go to college.
鈥淭here was a point where I wasn鈥檛 thinking about college鈥� and considered going into the trades or the military, said Truslow, who ultimately decided to major in business at UVM.
Among his male high school classmates who didn鈥檛 go to college, said Truslow, who was playing pool in the student center, some couldn鈥檛 afford it. 鈥淏ut most of the ones that didn鈥檛 directly go to college, it was mostly academic. They just weren鈥檛 feeling school and they wanted to do something else.鈥�
A third of men compared to a quarter of women said they didn鈥檛 go to or finish college because Pew found.
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Richard Reeves, who studies this problem, said it may be more a result of having so successfully encouraged women to get degrees than having discouraged men.
鈥淚 think actually what鈥檚 probably happened is the opposite 鈥� that we鈥檝e sent a really strong and positive message to girls and women. But we haven鈥檛 had similar messages for boys and men,鈥� said Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men.
鈥淲e鈥檝e now got to do a little bit of self-correction here and say, look, of course we want girls and women to continue to rise in the education system, but we don鈥檛 want to leave the boys and men behind.鈥�
Reeves said that, just as male-dominated programs in engineering and business have made extra efforts to recruit women, female-dominated fields such as healthcare and education should now reach out to men.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 another thing that higher education institutions can do, is look at their courses and see where are the gender splits the greatest,鈥� he said. 鈥淩ather than thinking the football team is the answer, maybe more men in your nursing school is the answer.鈥�
But the football team could be one of many answers. Among the more subtle efforts to attract men at UVM, the university encourages its students, faculty and staff to wear its colors, green and gold, on Fridays 鈥� the days when most prospective applicants are touring the campus. 鈥淪chool spiritedness鈥� is another attribute that research showed appeals particularly to men.
鈥淐oincidentally, Fridays are some of our highest visit volume days, yes,鈥� said Jacobs, smiling.
UVM campus counselors say men who do enroll are less likely to join extracurricular clubs or seek help when they need it. Some men have 鈥渢his lack of connection,鈥� said Evan Cuttitta, the university鈥檚 coordinator of men and masculinities programs. 鈥淭hey have less experience in managing stress and advocating for themselves鈥� and often aren鈥檛 as good at 鈥渢hat practice of asking for help.鈥�
So the university has also started a program for Black and Hispanic male students that provides them with peer and professional mentors, summer internships, networking events and priority registration.
All these steps to increase male enrollment appear to be having some effect.
Identical twins Pierson and Parker Jones of Lutz, Florida, found themselves in Vermont for the entrepreneurship competition. It put the University of Vermont on their radar, they said.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 looked at the University of Vermont,鈥� Pierson Parker said. 鈥淏ut after this pitch, we鈥檙e definitely going to look into it. Because it鈥檚 definitely more interesting now.鈥�
This story about recruiting men to college was produced by , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Additional reporting by Liam Elder-Connors. Sign up for our . Listen to our .
