Insane costs and high tuition fees are the root cause of this. Men from all backgrounds have generally been taught from the beginning to join college as a step for moving forward in life, but now more and more of them are discovering they are better off finding a trade instead of getting straddled in debt for a credential that doesn't even come close to being worth what it's charged.

Women who get into college, meanwhile, have the dynamics set up in such a way that they are less restricted by any urgency to get financially independent fast, since the set of women being able to get into college will automatically self-select for those who have plenty of safety nets.