Report criticizes Yale’s Pell numbers
Brenzel: Income data a better indicator of accessibility for less affluent applicants
Yale may be stepping up efforts to recruit students from middle-income families, but the University has come under fire in the past week for enrolling what several higher-education observers say is an insufficient number of students from the lowest income brackets.
The percentage of Yale students receiving federal Pell grants — which are generally given to those in the lowest income quartile — has decreased by 14 percent over the past eight years at the same time that Yale’s multi-billion dollar endowment has grown exponentially, according to a study by Pell Institute senior...
The best step Yale could take to encourage greater economic diversity among its students would be to drop the yield-boosting early admissions crutch.
Yale fills more than half its class from the early pool, which is heavily skewed toward wealthier applicants from private schools or from publc school districts in wealthier areas, where academic advising programs are more extensive.
yale should be ashamed to be the least socioeconomically diverse of the big 3 (HYP). Isnt that a competition worth having some press attention on(beyond expanding finaid to upper middle class)?
Last year, Yale had 42% receiving aid, while Harvard had 49% and Princeton 51%. It really doesn't matter so much how much aid you give if you don't admit people who qualify for it.
I agree that Yale should not compromise on its need-blind, merit based admissions policies. The fault with more lower-income families not attending Yale lies within this nation's school systems and not with Yale University. Children are not receiving the quality of education or encouragement required to be accepted at Yale. If their family is challenged financially, the obstacles to their receiving that encouragement and education multiply. Unfortunately, children from lower or even middle income families do not see Yale as an even remote option for their higher education. My daughter, Yale class of '11, is a very driven, dedicated over-achiever; without that inner drive to succeed Yale would not have been possible for her either. The public schools and parents need to recognize and encourage kids more to see that they reach their fullest potential and realize that they are 'Ivy League Material'. Without the wonderful teachers and counselors at Ionia High School, Ionia, Michigan, Tara may not have reached for these heights either. It truly does take a village to raise a child these days, the cooperation of many. The only suggestion I would have for Yale is to broaden their recruiting or advertising to make ALL students of that age realize that Yale could be an option for them and nothing is beyond their reach if they only try.