In the Class of 2017, how many Yale students stayed in New Haven after graduating?

Caroline Smith
Sep 1, 2018 · 4 min read

In the Class of 2016, 138 Yale students stayed in New Haven after graduating. Here’s a piece I wrote about the Class of 2016.

In the Class of 2017, there was a slight increase — 140 Yale students stayed in New Haven after graduating.

Let’s dive deeper:

  • # of students in Class of 2017: 1396
  • # of Class of 2017 students staying in New Haven: 140
  • % of Class of 2017 working in New Haven: 80% (112 students)
  • % of Class of 2017 working in New Haven employed at Yale: 51% (57 students)
  • % of Class of 2017 working in New Haven not-employed at Yale: 49% (55 students)
  • % of Class of 2017 in Graduate/Professional School: 18% (25 students)
  • % reported of Class of 2017 not seeking employment/grad school at the time, but were staying in New Haven: 2% (3 students)
  • % of Class of 2017 working in New Haven for non-Yale affiliated position: 4%

Dive into the numbers yourself here! Thank you Jeanine Dames of the Yale Office of Career Services for your help

My main conclusion: The number of students staying in New Haven from the Class of 2017 after graduation increased by only 2 students from the Class of 2016. The percentage of those students staying in New Haven working for a non-Yale affiliated position, however, increased from 2% (Class of 2016/34 students) to 4% (Class of 2017/55 students).

To me, that is a small but significant increase.


I want more Yale students to stay in New Haven after they graduate.

I want more Yale students to stay because a low percentage has real effects. As I noted last year, when a low percentage of Yale students stay, there’s more transiency, less continuity, less institutional history. If Yale students see their time in New Haven as so strictly limited to four years, the student-city relationship can more easily become transactional and less thoughtful. This makes stories of distrust and pain override the stories of mutual connection, love, and growth.

I want more Yale students to stay because a higher percentage could have real effects too. If we worked to increase this percentage — in a way that is healthy and helpful for both New Haven residents and Yale students, in a way that does not simultaneously push others out or away—Yale students staying in New Haven could provide valuable connective tissue between the institutions of university and city. More spaces could continue to be built for Yale and New Haven folks to mutually learn from each other, build power together, and become close friends.


There is an increasing amount of work being done to change this percentage, in a way that is healthy for both Yale students and current New Haven residents.

Here are a few principles we can prioritize and initiatives already doing the work to get us there:

  • Admit more New Haven Public Schools students to Yale: Investing in programs that encourage local students to apply to Yale has long-term benefits. University and college towns across the country care deeply about “retaining talent” — about keeping young energy and ideas in the city after graduation. And the best way to retain talent locally is to cultivate local talent — to educate the local students who already live in New Haven, whose families are here, and who are most likely to stay here after college graduation. Organizations like New Haven Promise and the Yale Club of New Haven are doing this work. I wrote more about this here.
  • Change how Yale talks about New Haven to students: Starting with first-years’ orientation, Yale plays an important role in framing Yale students’ experience of New Haven. For example, instead of focusing on safety and service, let’s focus on opportunity, mutual respect, and friendship. Organizations like FOCUS on New Haven and the Yale College Dean’s Office are doing this work. I wrote more about this here.
  • Create more clear summer and post-grad opportunities for Yale students to stay in New Haven: Some Yale students want to stay in New Haven, they just don’t know how. Students — like anyone else — are often looking for a job that sustains them and a community that values them after graduation. There are plenty of resources and perspectives available to them about what that looks like in other cities. But not enough within their reach for how that could look in New Haven. Last year, the Yale Career Services Office created an “Opportunities in New Haven” section of their newsletter — what else can we do? Programs like the Presidential Public Service Fellowship are also doing this work.
  • Build more spaces and programs where Yale students and New Haven residents can meet on equal ground: Inclusive public spaces can bring people together to make better decisions with each other. They can train us to learn the vital practices in better decision-making: listening (giving people voice) and hearing (making people heard). Organizations like the Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op are doing this work.

These kinds of changes can make a large, compounding difference in a city. Let’s move towards a vision where more Yale students stay in New Haven after graduating — in a way that is mutually productive, healthy, and beneficial to both students and current New Haven residents.

Caroline Smith

Written by

Co-Director @collab_newhaven | Chair @dwscmt | she/her/hers

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