A Springtime Stroll Through New Haven, CT
May 2025
Exploring Yale’s Open-Air Museum
Yale was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School with its primary purpose being to train future ministers and leaders in a college-style setting. Despite its global reputation as a prestigious research university, the actual student population is remarkably small, right around 14,750 students.
Strolling around the campus grounds felt like exploring an open-air architectural museum. We were completely surrounded by Gothic Revival architecture, defined by towering stone structures, detailed arches, and serene courtyards. From the quiet halls and tall towers to the grand plazas, everything on campus was perfectly maintained. Of course, that flawless environment is made possible by its steep tuition fee. Without financial aid, the total “sticker price” to attend Yale as an undergraduate for the 2025/2026 academic year sat at a staggering $95,000 per year.
It made me appreciate my own academic education all the more. I obtained my chemistry degree at Utrecht University, a fantastic institution in the Netherlands, Europe, and ranked within the top 60 in the world, for only a tiny fraction of that enormous fee.
The Privileged and Forgotten Divide on New Haven Green
But here, under this blossoming canopy, we were also confronted with the other, less successful side of America. Homeless people were sleeping on the benches, just a few feet away from all the Ivy League campus wealth. It left me quite unsettled, seeing poverty and wealth, the privileged and the forgotten, opportunities for some and disadvantages for others. It is deeply ironic that a space specifically founded to uphold the values of supporting the poor and the forgotten has become a public theater to show that the opposite is happening.
