Posted by Nick Selbe

The national gender pay gap is currently one of the most talked about issues in American politics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women who work full-time earn about 82 percent of what men make.

At StartClass, we wanted to explore the issue at an educational level. Using new data released by the White House and the U.S. Department of Education, we’ve ranked the colleges whose former students have the biggest gap in pay based on gender. The data we used shows the average earnings of both male and female students currently working and not enrolled at their universities 10 years after entry. The average is not specified by profession, but rather compares all working alumni from a given school. The salary data reflects students who received some form of federal aid. Data is from 2011, but it is the most recently released report.

Only schools that had a Smart Rating of 80 or higher were included for this study. Smart Rating is a composite score created by StartClass that is based on financial affordability, career readiness, admissions selectivity, expert opinion and academic excellence.

Swarthmore College

Smart Rating: 99

Average male annual earnings: $83,900
Average female annual earnings: $53,500
Average difference: $30,400

Santa Clara University

Smart Rating: 98

Average male annual earnings: $99,700
Average female annual earnings: $68,000
Average difference: $31,700

Carnegie Mellon University

Smart Rating: 98

Average male annual earnings: $108,000
Average female annual earnings: $76,200
Average difference: $31,800

Yeshiva University

Smart Rating: 93

Average male annual earnings: $78,700
Average female annual earnings: $45,500
Average difference: $33,200

Davidson College

Smart Rating: 98

Continued on page 2 Click 2 below to continue.