Yale Adjusts Financial Aid Policy to Accommodate Lower Income Families
At the end of last week, Yale officials announced a shift in the school’s financial aid policy that will better accommodate lower income families, and increase the expected contribution of higher income families.
Families with incomes of $65,000/year or less will have their expected family contribution waved. Prior to this change, that guideline applied to families with incomes of $60,000 or less. Yale is one of the universities that pledges to meet the full financial need of admitted students.
From the article posted on the Yale Daily Bulletin: “Yale remains committed to ensuring that all admitted students, regardless of family finances, can attend Yale College.”
Although Yale promises to meet financial aid, students are still required to contribute. Each student who receives financial aid, regardless of income, is expected to contribute $3,000. Yale provides on-campus job opportunities for students in order to pay it.
According to a related article published in the Yale Daily News, the financial aid outlook at Yale for families making $130,000 to $200,000 a year or more is not as bright. In previous years, these families had an expected “parental” contribution of 12%, and in 2011-2012, that amount will increase to 15%.
“Looking at the total picture, there are three big factors at play here: the drop in endowment, our desire to help more folks on the lower end, and our belief that making moderate adjustments on the higher end will still enable complete economic diversity,” said Yale Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi.
