By Mary Frances Mitchner

In 1982, for the first time, more U.S. women graduated with bachelor’s degrees than men, and those numbers continue to rise. However, one group of women still faces major obstacles to degree attainment: single mothers, and especially single mothers with lower incomes. It’s not that this group has stopped pursuing higher education; in fact, more and more continue to do so. Unfortunately, single women have also been targeted by for-profit, often less than scrupulous, colleges. For example, a recent report penned by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that “About 30 percent of single mothers in college attend for-profit schools, according to an analysis of government data from the 2011–2012 academic year.” By comparison, fewer than one in ten singles without dependents did so.

Read more>>