Lukas Flippo

Yale calls its first-year counselor program a “hallmark” of its undergraduate advising system. Under this model, the College hires a select group of seniors to help incoming first-years navigate the academic and social transition to college.

Now, FroCos are navigating their own path as they push for increased compensation. 

Incoming FroCos initially brought requests for higher wages to University administration in late March, during their first training session. Administrators agreed in April to increase FroCo annual wages — which differ across residential colleges — by about $1,000 for each FroCo. None of the residential colleges’ FroCo salaries, however, are enough to cover living expenses for all counselors, which prompted the incoming FroCo class to launch a petition in May asking that the University cover full room and board for its first-year counselors.  

“Paying FroCos fairly increases the number of people willing to do this job,” Matthew Merritt ’24, an incoming Timothy Dwight College FroCo, wrote to the News. “Paying FroCos fairly decreases the need to hold a second job, allowing FroCos to be more available to their Frosh. Paying FroCos fairly creates a community in which our work is valued as much in practice as it is in word.” 

FroCos petition for compensation covering full room and board 

The organization label of Yale FroCos United, claiming to represent the full incoming class of FroCos, launched a petition on May 28 calling for administrators to raise their pay to cover room and board. In the petition, they also demand that administrators increase communication and transparency with FroCos regarding major policy decisions. 

As of early June, the petition has collected 653 signatures. 

“I think that the public petition is a form of accountability,” said Aster Aguilar ’24, head FroCo for Silliman College. “Something that is said to us pretty frequently is that we are vital, we’re very important, and we are super necessary for the first-year experience. I think the petition is just reaffirming that FroCos are really valued, and that people would like to see fair compensation for us.”

All FroCos are required to live on campus and have a meal plan. The cost of room and board for the 2023-24 school year is $19,180, which includes housing and the meal plan.

Cynthia Sutanto ’24, head FroCo for Pauli Murray College, told the News that living on campus often is more expensive than finding off-campus housing. She added that fully covering FroCos’ room and board would allow them to better counsel first-year students, as they would be less likely to need other jobs, and help to diversify future FroCo classes.

“While Yale likes to boast that they have diverse FroCo cohorts, the inadequate pay dissuades many students, especially low-income students, from applying,” Sutanto said. “If the petition’s requests are granted, I think we’d see a more diverse class of FroCos, which will better serve first-years.”

According to several incoming FroCos interviewed by the News, FroCos first brought up their concerns over pay as early as March 31, during the first night of FroCo training. 

Later that night, following the initial complaint during FroCo training, Dean of Student Affairs Hannah Peck wrote an email to the incoming FroCos expanding on her thoughts from the discussion. 

“It was excellent to have so many of you gathered together this evening for our first night of training,” Peck wrote in her March 31 email, which was obtained by the News. “I was distressed, though, that we ended our conversation on such a discouraging note. Conversations about salary can be difficult, and a large group is not the best format.” 

In that email, Peck told FroCos that the administration would conduct an assessment of FroCo compensation and keep the counselors informed about its progress. Peck told the News that while administration would need a full year to review compensation, they were able to announce a raise to FroCos in April.

On April 21, in a separate email to FroCos, Peck announced a series of changes to the pay structure, which increased the stipend for room and board. Administration once again raised FroCo salaries on June 2 after seeing the “unusually large” size of the class of 2027, according to Peck. 

“After conversations with the 22-23 Head FroCos in the early spring about hours worked and compensation, the [Yale College Dean’s Office] began a full review of the FroCo program for the 23-24 academic year,” Peck wrote to the News on June 8. “During the spring training for the 23-24 FroCos, the incoming counselors raised concerns about compensation, and Dean Boyd and I looked into speeding up the review process. Although we do need a full year to complete the review, we were able to announce a raise to the 23-24 FroCos before the end of the term.”

FroCos seek more transparency

In her April email, Peck also invited head FroCos from each residential college to a May 10 meeting with Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and Dean of Student Life Melanie Boyd for further discussion. 

In the meeting, administrators said that budgetary limitations meant that the University would not cover full room and board but that they were open to continually reassessing pay. 

Instead of a further increase in pay, the deans emphasized the need for the FroCos to set boundaries so that they only work approximately 11 hours a week, according to Aguilar. 

“The main consensus we got from that meeting was that FroCos cannot be paid higher because of university budget constraints but that FroCos should just work less,” Sutanto said. “In particular, the deans emphasized the need for FroCos to create boundaries for themselves so that they do not feel overworked.”

Differences in pay between colleges is based on the FroCo team size, which is decided on by the residential college leadership.

According to the terms of the 2023-24 contract, “The larger the college team size relative to their first-year incoming class, the lower the expected hours, and hence, the lower compensation.”

FroCos’ pay comes as a stipend for room and board. Sutanto said that administration calculates the stipend amount from the number of hours they expect FroCos work per week — which falls roughly between nine and 15 — at $27.25 an hour. 

But several FroCos said that there are many unaccounted additional hours that come with the job, such as being on call for emergencies.  

As such, FroCos like Sutanto are asking for a seat at the table when it comes to decision-making conversations around topics like wages, as well as for greater transparency overall, according to the petition.

“The current system is self-contradictory: on one hand, the administration tells FroCos that they will not be paid through hourly wages, since most of our work (e.g. answering texts throughout the day or responding to emergencies) cannot be tracked on an hourly basis,” Sutanto wrote. “If FroCos are involved in discussions that set FroCo pay, I think that administrators would better understand the nature of the work that FroCos do and that they should, accordingly, be compensated at higher rates.”

According to Aguilar, FroCos intend to document their hours next fall to see if there is a discrepancy between the nine to 15 weekly hours for which they are theoretically compensated and their actual total hours worked. 

She also told the News that she is hopeful that there will be further discussions about compensation next year and said she would like to see FroCos in the future earn a living stipend or hourly wage in addition to full coverage of room and board costs. 

“We still plan to continue the review of the program this fall to make sure that the FroCos are well compensated for their work and that the workload is manageable and enables them to put their studies first,” Peck wrote to the News.

Yale’s first-year counselor program was first established in 1938.

Correction, July 1: A previous version of this article stated incorrect salaries for first-year counselors. Administration gave FroCos a $1,000 raise in April, and the article has been updated to reflect this.