I had a quick hour last night to go to the beis midrash, so I had to make it quick. I had to pay a babysitter just to get away to the beis midrash- “meimeinu bekesef shasinu”. I think I got it clear though.
There is an argument in Sotah is women should be taught Torah or not. The poskim follow the view that they should not. There is a split made between Torah shebiksav and Torah shebaal peh. According to the most common reading, torah shebaal peh is tiflus, Torah shebiksav is not but shouldn’t be taught anyway. The Prisha in the Tur says that a woman is allowed to decide on her own to learn, because it shows she’s extraordinary. The Taz proves from the gemara in chagiga 3a about hakhel, the men “lilmod” and the women “lishmoa”, that women can learn the pashut pshat in mikra but shoudl not delve too deeply into the havana, because that is torah shebaal peh. The likutei halachos by sotah 21a says that nowadays, women need to learn to keep them frum, since the shtetl days of reinforced frumkeit are gone. He says tanach, mussar, pirkei avos. Reb Moshe clearly says no mishnayos except pirkei avos, and kol shekein no gemara.
That said, women are allowed to learn on their own. The wife of Reb Isser Zalman Meltzer was known to have been a big lamdanis, and helped her husband write his seforim. it thus makes sense that his daughter, Rebbetzin Kotler, would be the same way.
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin in Moznaim Lemishpat siman 42 (disclaimer- I didn’t have enough time to hunt this down myself) allows Torah shebaal peh but just the maskanah, not shakla vetarya.
Bottom line: Women are allowed to learn on their own. According to most poskim, men shouldn’t teach them Torah shebaal Peh. the Taz makes it clear that deep havana in mikra is torah shebaal Peh, which makes Rambans the same thing as Gemara. While they aren’t teaching gemara, they clearly are teaching the girls torah shebaal peh- tiflus. The only heter I hear for seminaries is that of Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, which I didn’t read yet.
But I assume most men don’t want a chavrusa, as it challenges their self-worth.