In March 2024, Congress officially designated March 5, 2025, as National Women’s Colleges and Universities Day—a moment to celebrate the impact and legacy of institutions like Hollins University.
Today, Hollins is one of only 30 women’s colleges remaining in the U.S—half the number at the start of this century and down almost 90% from the 1960s. It’s more important than ever to recognize the vital role they play in shaping leaders, breaking barriers, and expanding access to education.
Women’s colleges:
- Produce an outsized percentage of women elected to political leadership.
- Graduate more STEM majors than coed institutions, with strong pathways to medical school and doctoral programs.
- Develop leaders: “The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, the first woman to be named CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and the first woman to serve as a general in the U.S. Army were all women’s college graduates.” (Source: Scripps)
- Have students more likely to graduate and to do so in four years or fewer, who are also more engaged in the life of the school and in leadership positions. (Source: BestColleges)
The distinctiveness of the mission of these institutions is a strength that the country cannot afford to lose. Choice and variety matters, because fit—a sense of belonging, of mattering—has an impact on learning and access to education.
Women’s colleges lead in providing access to Pell-eligible and first-generation students. At Hollins, more than 40% of students are in each category. We understand that access and higher education are the cornerstones of social and economic mobility. We are changing the lives of students who cannot afford so many of the elite institutions, who only admit 10% (and often fewer) of such students into their ranks.
