At the same time, a rift existed at Harvard between its sixth president Increase Mather and the rest of the Harvard clergy. Mather thought that they were increasingly liberal, and didn't maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy; what's more, after his resignation, his son as well as colleague Cotton Mather's requests for succeeding the president's position were continuously refused, which made the situation worse, so the Mathers turned to the Collegiate School, intending to maintain religious orthodoxy there. Perhaps under the requirement of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's governor Gurdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather helped contact Elihu Yale, a successful Welsh merchant as well as a representative of the East India Company in India，for financial help in order to build a new building for the Collegiate School. Yale donated nine bales of goods (sold for more than ￡560), 417 books, and a portrait of King George Ⅰ. In gratitude to Elihu Yale, Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College, also hoping that Yale might give another donation.

After that, Yale College not only survived the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) intact but also grew rapidly. The 19th and 20th centuries viewed the establishment of the graduate and professional schools which made Yale a true university: The Yale School of Medicine( 1810), the Divinity School (1822), the Law School (1824)，the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1847)，and which, in 1861，awarded the first Ph.D. in the United States), the schools of Art(1869), Music (1894), Forestry & Environmental Studies (1900)，Nursing (1923), Drama (1955), Architecture (1972) and Management (1974). In 1887，under the leadership of President Timothy Dwight V，the school was renamed "Yale University，'suggesting a comprehensive university.