Affirmative action for male students has become the new 'dirty little secret' with US colleges 'worried' that men are abandoning courses in record numbers - but are afraid to speak out amid the glare of gender politics.

Women now make up an increasing proportion of the student body across America, in part driven by a trove of recent initiatives aimed at improving gender equality.

Data from National Student Clearinghouse reveals female students accounted for 59.5 percent of all college enrollments in spring 2021, compared to just 40.5 percent that were men. 

The gap between the two sexes is widening, with male student enrollment declining more drastically than their female counterparts with 400,000 fewer male students enrolling in 2021 than 2020, versus 200,000 fewer female students between the two years.   

Some admissions experts are voicing concerns about the long-term impact of this trend on the male population, as college graduates can expect to earn more than a million dollars more than those educated to high-school diploma level over the course of their working lives.