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Expanding Access
to Yale College
Dear Friends,
“This is how
we should value
our students.”
Teaching at Yale University, as I did for three decades, is an exhilarating
experience. In daily interactions with our remarkable students, I was energized
by their intellectual curiosity, insight, and adventurousness. As my colleagues
can attest, it is a privilege to help these young people prepare for lives of
leadership and service after graduation.
The competition to be part of this select body is intense. We received a
record 30,931 applications for the Class of 2018, and the resulting cohort of 1,361
freshmen is as talented as any as we have seen. These students represent all
fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and fifty-six foreign
countries. They also come from diverse economic and social backgrounds—
for us a defining strength, made possible by Yale’s financial aid program.
Support for students has a long tradition at Yale, which established its first
scholarship fund in 1733. In 1964, we became the first private research university
in the nation to adopt need-blind admissions—a policy of evaluating applicants
on merit alone—backed by our promise to meet their full demonstrated need
for financial aid. In the fifty years since, the university has worked to improve
this program to best support our students and their families.
Now we aim to do more. Access Yale is an initiative to further build our
financial aid resources, open new doors for under-served populations, and lay
the groundwork for an expanded Yale College. Together, these e≠orts send a
vital message—that if we value our students and the contributions they make to
society, we must provide them every opportunity for learning and advancement.
I invite you to join in this important initiative. Your support can make
a tremendous di≠erence in the lives of today’s brightest young people, by
keeping Yale’s superlative education a≠ordable and accessible to students from
every background.
Sincerely,
Peter Salovey ’86 Ph.D.
President, Yale University
What is Access Yale?
For fifty years, financial aid policies in Yale College
have aimed to place a world-class education within
reach of all qualified students, regardless of their
financial means—an ideal that ensures on our campus
a broad representation of people and perspectives. It
is a feature that defines the Yale experience for those
who teach and study here, and it raises our reputation
for excellence worldwide.
In support of this tradition, Access Yale is a two-year
initiative to raise $200 million in new funding for
financial aid. An inclusive undertaking, the initiative
extends to Yale College, the Graduate School, and
the twelve professional schools. By securing current
use funding and new endowment, Access Yale aims
to increase opportunities for young people, make
our educational o≠erings more competitive, and free
up operating funds for our core mission of teaching
and research. We also aim to support a 15 percent
expansion of the undergraduate student body, the first
since the admission of women to Yale College in 1969.
Expand access for the most talented students
Yale University is widely known—
and widely sought—for its strength
in undergraduate education. Students
come here from around the world
to study in programs that span the
social sciences, the arts, humanities,
and natural science, all supported by
a world-class faculty and a signature
residential college system.
Access Yale a∞rms and extends
our best e≠orts to keep this peerless
education open to all students. Since
2008, our financial aid policies have
been enhanced to ensure that no student
is required to take out loans to pay
for a Yale education, and families with
less than $65,000 in annual income
are not asked to make any financial
contribution. Fourteen percent of the
Class of 2018 will be the first in their
families to graduate from a four-year
college or university, and 16 percent
of American students in the class
received a federal Pell grant for lowincome college students.
In keeping with its commitment
to enroll students from all economic
backgrounds, Yale is also expanding
its involvement with the QuestBridge
National College Match, a program
that helps high-achieving, lowincome students gain admission to
selective colleges. Since 2007, Yale
has traditionally enrolled fifty to sixty
Questbridge finalists in each freshman
class and now aims to increase this
number by 50 percent. For the Class of
2018, Yale enrolled eighty Questbridge
finalists, and another seventy-five
to eighty are expected to enroll in the
Class of 2019.
In addition, Yale is continuing
to step up recruitment among firstgeneration college aspirants and
under-resourced high schools where
young people may not know that
Yale is an a≠ordable option. For these
students, we provide support that
includes financial aid and more—a
bridge program to highlight Yale’s
academic culture and resources, plus
advising, mentoring, and tutoring
programs in both the sciences and
humanities. Generous funding
of these enhancements will ensure
that admitted students find the
resources they need to succeed once
they get here.
Support a larger student body
Close the funding gap
Ten years ago, Yale College was already
among the nation’s most selective
programs, admitting only 9.9 percent
of applicants for the Class of 2008.
This year, with 30,931 applying for
about 1,300 openings in the Class of
2018, Yale admitted just 6.3 percent.
Our applicant pool stands among the
nation’s strongest; clearly, we have
the potential to admit an even greater
number of highly qualified applicants.
Now, Yale plans expand its under
graduate enrollment, adding some
200 students per class. In 2017, the
university will open two new residential
colleges to accommodate these students,
who are also expected to need financial
Access Yale aims to build new scholarship
resources to keep pace with the growing
needs of students and their families.
Currently, 50 percent of undergraduate
students receive financial aid, with
an average award of $42,440 per year.
Shortly after Yale announced its
new financial aid policy in 2008, the
endowment su≠ered a precipitous
decline of some 25 percent, reducing
the annual payout for scholarships just
as student need was trending upward.
This combination of events opened a
gap in the funding stream for student
aid, which persists even though the
endowment has recovered lost ground.
In fiscal 2008–2009, the payout
aid at the same levels as the larger
student body. By 2021, when the new
residential colleges are fully populated,
the university will spend an estimated
$18 million per year beyond today’s
budget levels to cover their additional
scholarship needs.
supplied a generous 79 percent of the
$88 million slated for undergraduate
financial aid. But in 2014–2015, the payout
is funding just 56 percent of a $116.6
million financial aid budget, with the
balance coming from annual giving and
general operating funds. Without new
additions to the endowment, Yale expects
a continuing gap between its funding
needs and the endowment payout.
Building Yale’s scholarship resources
to close this gap is a foremost priority.
By directing gifts to endowed funds and
current use scholarships, donors can
make a lasting contribution that secures
access to a Yale education in any economic
climate, today and well into the future.
A tradition of student support
Milestones in financial aid
Financial aid today
1733
1964
5,450
$59,800
The Reverend George Berkeley
established the Berkeley Scholarships
for graduate study, the first such
scholarships in America.
Yale became the first research university
to introduce need-blind admission
for undergraduates. At the same time,
Yale committed itself to meet the
demonstrated financial need of all
admitted students.
Total students in Yale College
Total cost of attending Yale College
(tuition, room, board)
1920s
A bequest from John W. Sterling
b.a. 1864 was directed to endowment
funding for financial aid. Today the
Sterling Scholarship Fund provides
scholarships for more than one
hundred undergraduates each year.
50
Percentage of students
receiving aid
1823
Yale College created its first scholarship
fund, thanks to a gift from David C.
DeForest for the “education of young
men in indigent circumstances
and of good talents.” Grants from
the DeForest fund were awarded
starting in 1852.
2001
Need-blind admission was extended to
international students.
$116.6 million
Financial aid budget for 2014–2015,
Yale College
2008
Yale introduced further enhancements
to its financial aid program, easing
demands on families’ assets, extending
benefits to a greater number of students,
and increasing levels of support for
those who qualify. The changes resulted
in the largest increase in spending
for financial aid in the history of the
university. In fiscal 2008–2009, the first
year of the enhanced financial aid
policy, the percentage of Yale College
students receiving financial aid
jumped from 43 percent to 52 percent.
$340 million
Financial aid budget for 2014–2015,
university
$42,440
Average Yale grant per
undergraduate student recipient
Supporting Access Yale
Throughout its history, Yale has made
financial aid a priority, with the valued
support of friends and alumni. Yale
College has established one of the
nation’s most generous need-based
financial aid programs.
The Access Yale initiative seeks to
build the financial aid endowments in
Yale College, the Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences, and the professional
schools. It also aims to raise current
use funds that can go to work
immediately to support financial aid
across the campus, helping to keep
Yale a≠ordable for students of all
socioeconomic backgrounds.
In 2014–2015, Yale budgeted
$340 million to support financial aid
university-wide. A growing financial
aid endowment can ensure that
su∞cient resources are available year
after year, relieving pressure on the
general operating budget.
What counts?
Access Yale will count contributions
made between July 1, 2014, and June 30,
2016, including:
•Gifts and new pledges in support of
financial aid
•Planned gifts and documented
bequests designated for financial aid
•Financial aid gifts directed to Yale’s
endowment
•Current use funds, including all
annual gifts directed to financial aid
and to unrestricted current use
To learn more
There are many ways of giving
to Access Yale. For more information,
please contact your gift o∞cer.
Our sta≠ directory may be found
at giving.yale.edu/key-contacts.
You may also call or email:
Martha M. Woodcock
Director of Development
for Yale College
203.432.9067
[email protected]
Photo credits:
Cover: Lisa Kereszi
Page 2: Katie Smith
Pages 4–5: Michael Marsland
Pages 6–7: Lisa Kereszi
Page 11: Michael Marsland
03/15
Design: Yve Ludwig