Class mobility

Chart: Mark Zurolo ’01MFA. Source: Admissions Office.

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As we’ve detailed in the past (“Wanted: Smart Students from Poor Families,” January/February 2014), Yale is working to enroll undergrads who aren’t from the 1 percent—or the 5 percent, or the 20 percent. How is it going? The most relevant statistic is shown here: the rising percentage of undergraduates in each entering class from the United States who are eligible for federal Pell Grants for low-income students. By other measures, Yale College has stayed fairly stable. Over the past five years, the percentage of matriculating students who will be first in their family to graduate from college has fluctuated from 11.9 to 14.5. The percentage who attended public high school varied from 55 to 60. Both of those high-water marks were notched this fall.