Female high school graduates are increasingly opting to enter all-women's colleges, researchers report. That trend began about eight years ago.

• Of the nation's 79 women's colleges, 96 percent are four- year institutions.

• Just over half of them are located in the Northeast.

• One-third of them have historical ties to the Catholic church, 18 are affiliated with other religions and 49 percent are independent.

• Nearly half of the graduates of women's colleges have gone on to earn advanced degrees.

Wesleyan College in Georgia granted the first degrees to women in the U.S. in 1836, and Spelman College, also in Georgia and founded in 1881, became the first college for black women.

Source: Andrea Billups, "Engendering Renewed Support," Washington Times, July 26, 1999.