Yale expands size of its undergraduate class by 100 students

Washington: Yale University said it will expand the size of its undergraduate class by 100 students and add faculty positions to make room for more applicants with varied backgrounds, at a time when diversity is being scrutinised and challenged within higher education.

The college will grow to 1,650 students per grade, starting with the class that begins this fall, according to the Ivy League school.

“Each year, tens of thousands of qualified applicants apply for admission to Yale College, far more than the university has had the capacity to accept,” Provost Scott Strobel and Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in a statement on Tuesday.

“By making investments to welcome more of these talented students, Yale College will advance its strategic plan, providing the benefits of a Yale education to additional future leaders with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.”

Yale, whose $41 billion endowment makes it the second-richest private college in the US, will increase resources and staff to accommodate the larger student body.

The cost to attend the New Haven, Connecticut school for the 2024-25 year is $91,000 and financial aid is awarded by need. Families earning between $75,000 and $200,000 with typical assets contribute a percentage of yearly income on a sliding scale between 1% and 20%. There is no income cutoff, as some families who earn more than $200,000 in annual income receive aid.

Admissions at elite universities have been going through significant changes in recent years. Universities can no longer consider race after a US Supreme Court ruling and are grappling with the question of legacy admissions. Some schools, including Yale, have returned to requiring standardized tests. Yale reported a decline in Asian-American students this year, while its share of Black students held steady.

Fellow Ivy League member Princeton University is also in the middle of an expansion, with plans to boost its total undergraduate class by 500 students.