Dear Deans Boyd, Peck, Lewis, and members of the Board of Trustees,
We are a group of First-Year Counselors (FroCos) writing to demand action on two major fronts where the Yale Administration does not meet our needs as student workers: (1) payment and (2) transparency and communication. In particular, we call for the following substantive changes:

1) All FroCos should receive full coverage of room and board costs.

2) The FroCo program must increase transparency and communication with student workers so that their input is taken into account for major policy decisions, including but not limited to issues of training, hours, and compensation.

FroCos are currently paid through a partial room and board credit. It is a common misconception at Yale that FroCos receive full room and board, but the FroCo credit actually ranges from $9,800 (Timothy Dwight, 2023-24) to $14,000 (Old Campus FroCos). By contrast, the university is charging $19,180 for room and board during the 2023-2024 academic year. As a result, students must pay up to $5,180 to serve as FroCos.

Many of Yale’s peer institutions now cover the full room and board costs of all Resident Advisors (RAs). At Fordham, RAs were already paid full room and board in 2019, before they successfully organized for more say in their compensation and working conditions. Yale Summer Session also recognizes that its Residential Counselor position is a job, not an opportunity students should have to pay for. Residential Counselors for Yale Summer Session receive a full room and board credit of $7,890, plus a summer tuition credit valued at $4,850. Although the pay comparison may not be directly analogous (as the tuition credit cannot be converted into a stipend), it is still clearly inequitable: a Yale Summer Session Residential Counselor earns more in 10 weeks than some FroCos earn in 28.

The university celebrates the FroCo position and advertises it to prospective students as a unique advising program for first-years. While FroCos earn less than RAs at peer institutions, they have a much wider range of responsibilities. According to Yale College guidelines, FroCos must also act as academic advisors, enforce Undergraduate Regulations, run First-Year Orientation events, respond to medical emergencies, and counsel students after an emergency or rule violation.

Yale frames the partial room and board credit as compensation in order to obfuscate the conditions of FroCo employment. A distinguishing factor between the FroCo position and other student jobs at Yale is that FroCos must live on-campus and purchase a full meal plan in order to complete their jobs. Without full coverage of room and board, this means that FroCos are not being paid to work—they are paying Yale.

Yale Residential Life’s regressive payment model appears especially exploitative considering that the university recruits students of color and low-income students to serve as FroCos, in an effort to match the diversity of the first-year class.

As we campaign for an increase in the room and board credit, we call on the university to improve communication between Yale administrators, Deans, FroCos, and students. FroCos are the backbone of Yale's campus community and are often the first point of contact when issues and emergencies arise. Yale College portrays FroCos as an integral part of the undergraduate experience—we ask that the Dean’s Office start treating us as such.
Signed,
Yale College FroCos Class of 2024