Yale is planning two new residential colleges and a 700-student increase in enrollment, according to University Business and the Boston Globe.

The move is the biggest expansion at Yale since the 1960's.

In the words of the Boston Globe:

Yale University is moving forward with plans to build two residential colleges, an expansion that could generate the largest increase in enrollment since the Ivy League college began admitting women in 1969.

The decision comes after a study group completed a one-year evaluation of the idea. Yale is planning two new residential colleges.

Yale president Richard Levin told faculty and staff that he will suggest the development of a budget and a fund-raising plan for the project at a board meeting this week. He hopes to get final approval for the project when the university's board of trustees meets in June.

The expansion plans have been fed in part by a decrease in the university's acceptance rate. Yale has 5,300 students. At the moment it accepts under 10 percent of its applicants. Historically, the acceptance rate has been at between 18 and 27 percent. But the number of applications the university receives each year has increased.

Yale is designed around small residential colleges - 12 of them, at the moment. the idea is to give students a small college experience within a larger university.