By Jewel Della Valle

A recent U.S. Department of Education study confirmed a growing trend: 57 percent of college students in America are now female.

Though there are more college-age males nationwide – 15 million as compared to 14.2 million women according to the Census Bureau – the ratio on college campuses is now 43 percent male to 57 percent female. National statistics predict that it will only increase with time.

Andrew Sum, a Northeastern economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, said the problem is males are not challenging themselves.

“Boys don’t work as hard as girls,” Sum said. “It’s very simple. They don’t read as much as girls do, they don’t write as much as girls do and they don’t take as much of a demanding curriculum.”

In 2004, women outnumbered men in every degree attainment except first professional degree, which is close to equal. For a bachelor’s degree, the ratio was 135 women for every 100 men. For a master’s degree it was 143 women to 100 men, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

“If you look at the trends over time, it’s not a case that this is something that was growing and stopped,” Sum said. “Basically, the gaps have been growing consistently over the last 20 years and