Over the past 30 years, there has been significant progress in the educational advancement of women in the United States and New England. Nationally, the percentage of adult women with four-year college degrees increased from 8 percent in 1970 to 24 percent in 2000. Women narrowed the gap with men in college completion, as the female-to-male ratio in percentages of Americans with four-year college degrees went from below 60 percent to 85 percent. Yet women's progress in higher education has not translated into proportionate economic advancement in the workplace. In New England, women earn a low of 69 cents on the men's dollar in New Hampshire to a high of 78 cents in Vermont. All six New England states have female-to-male education ratios at least 3 percentage points above the U.S. average. But only two--Vermont and Massachusetts--have female-to-male earnings ratios 3 percentage points above the U.S. average. In all states except Massachusetts, the "return to education" ratio--as measured by the full-time working female-to-male earnings ratio divided by the full-time working female-to-male education ratio--is below the U.S. average of 86 percent. In other words, the economic returns to a college degree for women relative to men in New England is below the U.S. average. This article discusses why this economic disparity remains so pronounced even with the significant advancement of female students in higher education. In addition, it suggests how institutions of higher education might advance the economic status of women. (Contains 3 figures.)