Monday, November 7 — Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the opening in 1837 of the first American college for women — Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The new institution began instruction with 80 students, who paid annual tuition and boarding fees of $64. Receiving a collegiate charter in 1888, the school became Mount Holyoke College in 1893 and remains a prestigious liberal arts college for women. Among its prominent alumni are poet Emily Dickinson, and former Secretaries of Labor Frances Perkins and Elaine Chao. Today, there are over 10.5 million women attending college, almost 2,200 off them at Mount Holyoke. In comparison, male higher education enrollment stands at 8.6 million students.
You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online here.
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