Yale Daily News

A few points:
1. The photo: Two girls names in the description, but it appears that only one girl is in the photo.
2. Andrew Williamson (Yale '09) I believe should be consulted be one of the YCC reps. He has some excellent ideas on Yale financial aid. He is aggressive (but not offensive) in asserting his position, which is what you want for a student representative on an issue like this. If that won't work, please YCC reps get his input before your Friday meeting.
3. More importantly: Yale's aid is not up to par to its peers. My kid got offerred significantly more $ from Columbia than Yale , but she loved Yale more so she opted for Yale. A friend had his kid admitted to multiple Ivies and Stanford last year, and Yale's offer was not competitive. He opted for Harvard. Many other similar stories exist.
4. With a few of the meagerest drops from the sweat of Yale's endowment brow, loans could be done away with. Loans are a dreadful burden. It encourages students in choosing a job or career to pick only the higher paying options to get that monkey off their back ASAP. Also a work obligation harms students from doing what they should be doing: Studying or participating in meaningful extracirriculars. Students who have these burdens don't get as much out of their four years as students who don't have them. A modest amount of money would enable the self-help to be entirely done away with. Yale will almost surely get more than its money back years later-- a student who had no self-help burden will feel much better about his or her yale experience than one who did, and those without this burden will donate to yale at a much higher rate than those with it. Yale is being penny wise and pound foolish.
6. Yale may say it is doing what it does with self-help due to federal regulations. That is true with FEDERAL money, but most aid comes form yale's funds, so this argument is bogus.
7. If you have multiple kids in college, Yale (and others) require the family to pay more than their expected family contribution. For example if you have two kids in college, and the EFC is $10K, yale and the other school will each require $6K, so the family pays a total of $12K altho the ECF is $10K. So you pay 120% of the EFC. This is compounded by the fact that the EFC is computed by assuming that the family is living only moderately above the poverty level. The target for computing EFC should be a middle class figure, not a figure just a bit above federal poverty level. Assume Kid #1 goes to Yale. With the way the EFC is currently computed, the other younger kids at home suffer and don't have the opportunities Kid #1 did since the EFC sucks up so much of the family's income. Not fair to the younger kids.
7. All of this would be not so offensive but for the fact that Yale has got so much money (of which I am glad), but it seems more interested in empire building (two new colleges) than taking care of the students it already has (making financial changes of the type mentioned above).

So politely get in Stolarrzi's face about this and more importanlty get an audience with President Levin and the Yale Corp. Don't just meet with Stollarzi and let him report to Levin or the Corp. Make this an issue and press it with the people with the power to make the decisions.
Good luck!!

GUYS CAN BE NAMED DOMINIQUE TOO.

such a sense of entitlement. it's ludicrous that some people think that they deserve a free education at one of the finest institutions in the world. haven't you ever heard that working builds character?

i'm all for reducing the cost of yale for all students (to make it more reasonable so that more families can afford it), not just for some.

I whole-heartedly support the first post. Yale, stop being stingy. I sense that our university is already on the decline. Stop Take the advice from your own admissions officers= quality over quantity. Support and enhance the students here. Don't overcrowd Yale.

PS: Poor Fenton

to the third poster: "haven't you ever heard that working builds character?"

well, if this is true, then why is it that the most financially stressed and poor are the ones with jobs? why isn't work-study mandated for all students?

My apologies to Dominique. I had forgotten that "Dominique" can be a male name too. How could I have forgotten for example the awesome NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins(also known as "The Human Highlight Film").

The "most financially stressed and poor" aren't the only ones with jobs. Something like 1/3 of Yale student employees are not on financial aid. Yes, Yale is expensive, so it justifiably offers very generous financial aid. This does not mean that people should expect to attend Yale free of charge - even if you can only contribute a little, you can still help take responsibility for your own education.

While I make a comfortable living, I couldn't afford the full cost of a Yale education for my daughter. What I pay I consider a comfortable, fair sacrifice. I am paying more for my other child to attend a local university. I don't know when education became such a low priority in many parts of the country that one has to be wealthy or become indebted for life to obtain one. I feel fortunate that my child can obtain such a superior education at a price that is fair but not a life long burden. So no compaints here.

Who is talking about attending free of charge? Yale figures out your Expected Family Contribution (which assumes the family needs somewhat slightly above poverty level to live on). So the family has to pay that. Then if the cost to attend is more than the Expected Family Contribution, you then get aid from Yale. This aid is composed now of three parts: Work, loan, and if you still need more, a Yale grant. All I (the original poster) am saying is ditch the work and loan obligations. The Family still has to pay the Expected Family Contribution (which factors in the student's income and assets). The financial cost to Yale of ditching the work and loan components would be piddly, but the benefit to the students would be great (and lead to more gratitude, and thus they would be much more likely to contribute more to Yale after they have more financial resources later in their lives).