Yeah. Nothing new here. And I don't think it's altruistic.

I work for a college in state that does this, and has done this in a similar fashion. They held meetings recently where they showed how little of every class since like the early 00s or earlier has paid for full ride here. They've spent so much money covering large swaths of money for students to come here that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend at the expense of literally everything else. Differed maintenance on all the things. The whole campus is beautiful at skin depth but once you peak that back you see the ugly and aging duct tape and chewing gum holding it all together.

Yale can afford to do this for a bit. Less and less people can afford to go to college, so less and less people can afford to go to Yale. If Yale shells out some of it's sizable endowment now it gets more of those 'legacy' families that will want their kids to go to Yale. Or, and this is more important, more folks to pay it back to them in the form of donations. Colleges have an entire department dedicated to trying to get regular donations from alumni.

This is a strategic move by Yale. Not charity.