Yale's Financial Aid Philosophy
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Yale College admits students on the basis of academic and personal promise and without regard to their ability to pay. Once a student is admitted, Yale meets 100% of that student's demonstrated financial need. All aid is need-based; there are no athletic or merit-based awards. This policy helps to ensure that Yale will always be accessible to talented students from the widest possible range of backgrounds. Furthermore, Yale's admissions process is need-blind, which means that no applicant will ever be denied admission to Yale because of his or her family's financial situation. Applicants from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds may be eligible for need-based aid. We understand that each family has unique circumstances that may warrant financial assistance. On January 14, 2008, Yale University unveiled its most recent initiative in financial aid by significantly cutting costs for families and students with financial need. The move will reduce the average cost of sending a student to Yale by over 50% across a broad range of income levels. This latest initiative, however, is only one of a long line of recent initiatives in financial aid. |
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First in the nation with Need-based Financial Aid
In 1966, Yale was the first major university in the nation to make two commitments that very few institutions of higher education have been able to make or sustain to this day: need-based financial aid and need-blind admissions. For over forty years, the University has not taken into consideration whether a family can pay for a Yale education when we are deciding whether to make an offer of admission. Yale has also sustained for four decades a commitment to meet the full amount of determined financial need for every United States or Canadian citizen admitted here. In 2000, the University extended that same commitment to all non-Canadian international students.
The University has consistently reviewed and improved its program over time. In recent years, some of the most important changes have included the following:
• In 1998, Yale made a significant change to exclude certain family assets from the formula used to calculate need, substantially reducing the expected family contributions for most students on financial aid. The University also raised the number of scholarships for international students by 50 percent for each incoming class.
• In 2000, Yale began allowing students to apply 100 percent of scholarships awarded by external organizations to reduce their self-help requirement. Previously, only 50 percent of outside funds were used to reduce self-help.
• Also in 2000, Yale extended its need-blind admissions policy and its financial aid policy of meeting full determined need to international students admitted to Yale College.
• Students on aid at Yale, as at all of its peer universities, are asked to take personal responsibility for a modest share of the cost of their education through a combination of term-time earnings, summer earnings, and low-cost loans. This student share in the cost of a Yale education was cut by an average of 35% in 2001, at an additional cost to the University of over $6 million annually.
• In 2005, Yale began providing undergraduates on financial aid with grant support for summer study and internships abroad. The amount of aid students receive depends on the level of aid they received during the academic year and the cost of their summer program. The maximum grant will cover the full cost of the summer international opportunity, plus the amount that students are expected to earn during the summer in support of their education ($2,350 in 2006), freeing participants of the need to earn money for school over the summer and thereby making it possible for every Yale undergraduate on financial aid to undertake an international experience.
• Also in 2005, Yale College acted in a dramatic way to address the financial contribution that lower–income parents are expected to make toward their children’s education. Families with total taxed and untaxed yearly incomes below $45,000 are no longer required to contribute any portion of the cost of their children’s education, while families with incomes between $45,000 and $60,000 have had their expected contribution reduced by a pro-rated amount.
• Yale’s extensive campus employment system provides jobs for every student on financial aid who wishes to earn income while attending school. Increases in the rate of pay over several years have brought the average to over $11.50 per hour in 2007, the highest level of compensation paid for student work among Yale’s peers.
Yale’s commitment to financial aid includes ongoing review of every aspect of its program, with a view to measuring the impact on both students and families of possible improvements or changes. Indeed, the University’s commitment to socioeconomic diversity extends well-beyond the process of admissions and financial aid and into the areas of outreach, recruitment and student advising.
