Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 25, 2000

Volume 28, Number 22

Term bill raised by just 2.9%

Yale will raise tuition and room and board for undergraduates by only 2.9% for 2000-2001, marking its third straight year at that rate of increase, the lowest among Ivy League schools in two decades.

Yale will also take two important steps to ease the financial burden of students who receive financial aid. First, it will freeze the amount students must contribute to their education from their own earnings and borrowing. Second, it will enable them to benefit more fully from outside scholarships.

"We are committed to keeping yearly increases as low as possible and keeping Yale affordable to all admitted students," President Richard C. Levin said. "We believe that, with these initiatives, we are ensuring that anyone admitted to Yale will be able to attend."

The "term bill"

Yale's rate of increase for tuition and room and board -- the "term bill" -- has declined or remained steady for eight straight years. The 2.9% annual rate of the last few years is the lowest at Yale since 1968, and the lowest among Ivy League schools in two decades.

Tuition for the 2000-2001 academic year will be $25,220 and room and board will be $7,660, for a total term bill of $32,880. Students pay no other mandatory fees. Tuition in the current year is $24,500 and the charge for room and board is $7,440.

Financial aid

Under what is known as "self-help," Yale now asks freshmen and sophomores to contribute $6,020 a year to their education through jobs during the academic year and student loans. Juniors and seniors contribute $8,120.

Yale will freeze those amounts for 2000-01, marking the first time since 1975-76 that Yale has not increased self-help from one year to the next. That step will reduce pressures on students to borrow. It is equivalent to freezing tuition for the 40% of Yale students on financial aid.

Starting in 2000-01, Yale also will let students apply 100% of scholarships awarded by external organizations to reducing their self-help requirement. Previously, only 50% of outside funds were used to reduce self-help. The other half reduced the size of scholarships awarded by Yale.

Yale admits students from the United States and Canada without regard to their ability to pay and fully meets their need for financial aid. All grant money awarded by Yale is need-based, and an individual yearly grant can total as much as $28,000.

These initiatives come on top of Yale's efforts two years ago to boost financial aid. At that time, Yale exempted the first $150,000 family assets from available resources used to determine a student's need; raised scholarships for international students by 50% per incoming class; and provided supplemental scholarship support for students who engage in community service or foreign study in the summer.

As a result of the changes two years ago, the average annual Yale grant to students receiving financial aid increased to $14,300 and the overall Yale College financial aid budget increased to more than $28 million.

The new changes will raise the average annual grant to an estimated $15,000 and the overall Yale College financial aid budget to $30 million

Term bill charges for Yale College and the University's Graduate and professional schools provide about 22% of the University's operating revenues. The balance is provided through grants and contracts (27%), endowment and contributions (27%), medical services revenue (16%) and other sources (8%).

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Term bill raised by just 2.9%

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Educators will gather at Yale-hosted conference on social studies teaching

NASA grants awarded for space research

Concert will feature works by prize-winning composer

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