Campus & Community

Yale to increase undergraduate enrollment

The move will open a Yale College education to more of the qualified students who apply each year.

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Yale to increase undergraduate enrollment
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Yale College, the undergraduate school of Yale University, will increase its class size by 100 students per year beginning this fall with the entering Class of 2029, university leaders said Tuesday.

The increase will result in a total of 1,650 students per class and, over time, a total undergraduate population of 6,600, Provost Scott Strobel and Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis wrote in a message to members of the university community.

The 6,600 number is lower than the college’s current enrollment, which is higher than usual due to COVID-19-related deferrals, they said.

“Throughout its history, Yale College has educated promising individuals for leadership and service, preparing them for lifetimes of engaged citizenship,” Strobel and Lewis wrote in the message. “Today, we are pleased to announce the university’s commitment to making this education available to more students — those who will go on to serve in every corner of the world and every sector of society.”

The increase has been approved by Yale’s board of trustees and follows conversations with faculty, staff, and students “on the challenges and opportunities of a larger Yale College,” the message said. The provost and dean expressed gratitude to all who participated in the discussions, “particularly the two faculty-led committees that assessed needs and made recommendations for implementing a larger class size.”

Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, said that by increasing the first-year class, “Yale will provide more life-changing opportunities to more of the exceptionally strong students who apply. I am thrilled that the change will allow the Admissions Committee to admit more students each year. I believe that by thoughtfully expanding enrollment, we increase Yale’s excellence, broaden our graduates’ reach, and magnify their impact in communities around the world.” 

Strobel and Lewis said the expansion additionally “provides an opportunity to enhance the undergraduate experience and build on the strengths of the residential college system, where students develop their intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities in community with faculty and peers.”

Broader investments

Noting that a Yale College education is “possible only through the efforts of faculty, staff, and graduate students, as well as the services required to support both them and the residential education of undergraduates,” the Yale leaders said the university would provide additional resources and staff to facilitate student activities and campus life.

“This will ensure that all students continue to receive the opportunities that for years have made Yale College unique,” they wrote.

Along with commitments to the college, the university will also make broader investments, Strobel and Lewis said, writing that “we believe this is a moment to bolster both the entire undergraduate experience and the many areas of the university that contribute to the college’s strength.”

The broader investments include further growth of the faculty, augmenting the university’s previously announced investments to expand it. In 2022, Yale allocated 45 additional faculty positions to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS).

“As a result, FAS and SEAS have engaged in significant hiring and continue to work toward a target of more than 750 tenure-track and tenured positions,” Strobel and Lewis wrote. To further support a larger Yale College class size, they said, Yale will increase the faculty target size by five additional positions — four in the FAS and one in SEAS.

Yale will also commit additional resources to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to help offset the cost of supporting graduate students, according to the message. Graduate students serve as teaching assistants, supervise undergraduate research, provide mentorship to Yale College students, and deepen scholarship.

“Sustaining a robust graduate student community is crucial to the university’s education and research missions and to a thriving Yale College,” Strobel and Lewis wrote.

Financial aid

While increasing the Yale College class size, their message said, “the university will maintain its commitment to admitting exceptional students regardless of their financial resources,” and continue to meet 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need.

“Our world-leading programs in admissions and undergraduate financial aid will continue to attract and provide access to an outstanding group of students each year,” they wrote. 

In the current academic year, Yale College awarded $257 million in need-based scholarships to meet the full demonstrated financial need for all undergraduates. The average scholarship this academic year is almost $68,000, exceeding the cost of tuition.

The current first-year class has the highest-ever representation of first-generation and low-income students on record, and 21% of the first-year class received a financial aid award with a “zero parent share.” These awards cover the full cost of tuition, housing, the meal plan, travel, hospitalization insurance, and a $2,000 startup grant with scholarship funds.

In all, more than 1 in 3 Yale College students today are first-generation college students or from a lower-income family.

Yale last expanded its regular undergraduate population in 2017.

In the message, Strobel and Lewis thanked “the many colleagues who have offered guidance and strategic insights,” noting the Yale College Admissions and Financial Aid Policy Committee, the FAS-SEAS Senate, the residential college heads and deans, department chairs, and directors of undergraduate studies, as well as the Yale College faculty, “who have discussed this plan at several faculty meetings over the past two years.”

They also acknowledged “the critical partnership offered by Deans Steven Wilkinson, Lynn Cooley, and Jeff Brock, whose leadership helps make this increased class size possible.”

University President Maurie McInnis underscored the significance of the Yale College expansion, calling it “a milestone in our ongoing efforts to increase access to a Yale College education for students from every part of our country and across the world.”

She added: “By supporting this growth through strategic investments in infrastructure and in our faculty, staff, and graduate students, we ensure that incoming undergraduates — like those who came before them — will thrive in Yale’s distinct educational environment. I am grateful to colleagues who conducted extensive consultation across campus to plan for this expansion, and appreciate their continuing work to implement it.”