You girls need an education!

Pew Research Center

Perhaps it’s a good thing young women are getting college degrees at higher rates than men, because Americans seem to think women need that degree more.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that 77 percent of Americans think women need a college education to get ahead in life, while only 68 percent think that’s true about men.

The data was part of a survey looking at how men and women perceive the value and benefits of college, and comes as the gap between young men and women completing a college degree continues to widen.

According to Pew, in 2010 36 percent of women ages 25 to 29 had completed a bachelor’s degree. That compares with 28 percent of men in that age group.