Yale Enrollment to Stay Low Despite Applicant Increase

In the first official pronouncement among Big Three colleges on the question of increased undergraduate enrollment, Yale University has committed itself to a policy of non-expansion.

President A. Whitney Griswold released Yale's "considered statement" on future increases in student numbers to the Yale Dally News on Monday.

He committed Yale to relieving present overcrowded housing conditions and meeting other educational necessities before considering any plan that would substantially increase present student enrollment.

Griswold's statement represents Yale's official admissions policy for at least the next ten years, according to Dean of Admissions Arthur Howe. Recent estimates indicate that during the next ten years applications to each of the Big Three colleges will more than triple.

But Griswold said Yale's financial situation will preclude any rise in enrollment numbers.

Corroborating Griswold's declaration, Howe said last night, "We definitely do not plan any large-scale expansion in numbers of undergraduates at Yale." If any enrollment increase should become necessary, it would be very slight, he said.

"Educational Ideals' 'First

Griswold gave first priority to "Yale's educational ideals" in the allocation of finances. He emphasized the limits beyond which Yale could not go to meet the increased demands for higher education. He defined Yale's limits in terms of maintaining its present "residential colleges, small classes and high ratio of teachers to students, abundant opportunities for creative scholarship in every field of learning, and high standards of excellence for both students and faculty." These, he said, preclude any "quantitative expansion.

"The cost of any expansion will be great, and the resources to defray the cost are problematical," he continued. "Even on the basis of our present size, we have to scrape the barrel to provide for the needs of our scientists, and we face serious operating deficits. Without any expansion we need at least one more residential college to relieve the serious overcrowding of the existing ten. We must find the resources to meet all these costs before we shall be in the position to plan with any confidence for further expansion."