Tuition is killing us

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:22 pm

Hi all I have a big problem and I need some help. My child is in a modern orthodox school in brooklyn going into pre 1 a
Kindergarden tution was $7,500 no they have icreased our tuition for next year to $9,750
My husband has been unemployed for neraly seven month he just started working again (bh) the yeshiva does not know that he found a new job, that means that the tution was increae by nearly $2500 while knowing that he was not working.
I have a few questions
1) is such a high increase year overyear normal?
2) why wont the yeshiva give us a break? they wont buudge on th eprice
3) is paying $9,750 for a 5 year old not a little bit extreme
4) how can they expect us to pay more then 10% of our earning for tuition towards 1 child
How do the yeshivas expect us to pay our bills and live let alone save for the future if our tution increases so much so fast?
tution increased by nearly %30 in one year
DH and I feel like we are drowning. Even with the nice salery such high tution does not make financial sense.
The yeshiva refuses to let us volenteer to help bring down the costs.
We also have a baby, how are we expected to pay so much money for child care?
I dont understand how the jewish community here plans to keep the kids in religouse schools with these tution numbers.
Help me understand what I am supposed to tell my yeshivah

mummiedearest

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:31 pm

that's not unheard of. why won't they give you a break? because they're smart. they pay their teachers and expect you to pay for expenses for your child. there are many yeshivas out there that give breaks left and right, and they don't pay their teachers. this is also a huge problem in the community. by making you pay full tuition, they are ensuring that your child has a chance of having a good teacher. many of the good teachers will not work in yeshivas that don't pay.

yes, it is a huge expense. I really don't have a solution anyone will listen to. I would love to see the jewish community suddenly enroll all their kids in the public school system. maybe if we flood it they'll actually give us vouchers... no one will ever do it, though. chas v'shalom someone might find out our kids were in public school with lots of other jewish kids for three weeks, they might not get shidduchim!

I'd also love to see the community send their kids to public school for half a day and pay tuition for a half-day religious program. I wouldn't want to see my kids in public school with the current atmosphere, but if everyone does it... ah, never mind. no one will listen anyway, so we'll just have to keep paying more than we can afford. sigh.

natrualgeek

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:34 pm

Tution rates are crazy here
And we pay the same as some of the welathiest people in the world.
We get no extra curicular activties no extras nothing.
my kid has off any day the school feels it can get away with it.
School finished a week before public school start a week later to.
We pay and pay but get so little for what we pay.
The tution wouldnt bother me so much if we would be getting more out of it as well.

Nechamie

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:36 pm

Tuition is a HUGE financial burden! In all yeshivos. Mine Increased by 500 dollars. That's after I begged and pleaded that I am the sole supporter of the house. I am currrently teaching in my daughters school so I don't have to pay out of pocket. Good luck its so frustrating and unfair, especially because although you pay so much, teachers ARE NOT getting paid!!!!

suzyq

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:39 pm

natrualgeek wrote:

You are getting more for your tuition. You are getting a dual curriculum. They don't teach Hebrew and Torah and Gemara in public schools.

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:42 pm

No but withpublic school I could still get my child a good jewish education after schools and on sunday privatly
It would still be cheeper and my child would be in school more days of the year and would not have te feel like I am always indebted to our school.
They make us feel horrible about paying tution

Barbara

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 2:48 pm

natrualgeek wrote:

I "do" understand what you're getting at. Other private schools often have better facilities and more diverse offerings for the kids.

But as a reality check, Horace Mann's kindergarten tuition is $39,100. At Spence, its $37,500. I don't know of any day schools at that level. Yet.

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:00 pm

mummiedearest wrote:

yes, it is a huge expense. I really don't have a solution anyone will listen to. I would love to see the jewish community suddenly enroll all their kids in the public school system. maybe if we flood it they'll actually give us vouchers... no one will ever do it, though. chas v'shalom someone might find out our kids were in public school with lots of other jewish kids for three weeks, they might not get shidduchim!

I'd also love to see the community send their kids to public school for half a day and pay tuition for a half-day religious program. I wouldn't want to see my kids in public school with the current atmosphere, but if everyone does it... ah, never mind. no one will listen anyway, so we'll just have to keep paying more than we can afford. sigh.

I completely agree and have been saying this for a long time. I don't even know what I'm going to do - where I live, the ONLY option (hashkafically) for our family is 10K for kindergarden, 15K for elementary, and over 20K for high school. I don't know what I'm going to do. What about college? Also, shockingly, I would like to save for retirement. The entire community is in a bind, but I think it's particularly bad in MO yeshiva day schools. My husband makes about 100K and when I finish grad school, I'm looking at 50-60K per year, but I did the math, and to pay full tuition for 4 kids, I would have to make about 150K in additition to his salary. This is REALLY REALLY REALLY messed up, and I feel like I'm being told that you have to be a doctor married to a lawyer,or just a really lucky finance guy, to be part of the modern orthodox community. What am I going to do?

TranquilityAndPeace

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:07 pm

mummiedearest wrote:

If you live in Baltimore, I'd help you with this! We'd send our kids to Wellwood or Pikesville High for a few days.... and then have our tuition lowered.....

The community in Kiryas Yoel did this years ago and got lots of funding. I don't know why we can't do it....

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:12 pm

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

The community in Kiryas Yoel did this years ago and got lots of funding. I don't know why we can't do it....

I am the amother above, also talking about public school. From what I understand, what they did in KY was taken to court for being unconstitutional. They basically tried to use public money to pay for religious education. That is NOT what I'm interested in... but if enough frum kids went to public schools, they would get the accomodations they need - rescheduled tests on chagim, kosher food, other kids to hang out with who are shomer shabbat, etc. I am perfectly happy to pay for my kids' religious education after school. I am not thrilled about paying twice for chemistry and english and math and PE... I want to utilize the services I alrealy pay for in property taxes, but then nobody will play with my kids or, I suspect, trust my kashrut enough to come to my house on shabbos and hang out with *me* ...

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:27 pm

I'm so glad someone brought this topic up - I was beginning to think it was just me.

This is my story:

I am a single parent and get ONLY $25/month child support. We live at the bare minimum - literally share a one bedroom apartment - to cut down on the money. There is absolutely nothing more we can trim in our expenses, short of living without electricity or food...

My daughter goes to a MO school in the NYC area.

Tuition is my biggest bill - As a single parent, with a full-time job, I must pay for after school to keep a 9-5 job as well as pay for transportation. My monthly tuition bill after financial aid is $1400. This is not including the transportation or after-school.

I am short $800 a month from this Septemer onwards. The school cannot extend any more financial aid and I don't have any idea as to where this money will come from.

How are we expected to survive? Go homeless? My rent is less than my tuition - how crazy is that?!

How am I supposed to feed my child? Where is the community now? Can you really say spending $3,000,000 on an asifa to inform grown men not to watch [filth] was necessary?! How many people like me, who struggle to survive and have no other means of support and work 50+ hours a week in professional jobs could have benefited more than perverted men needing a chizuk group?!

This is the leadership in this generation?! No wonder the Jewish nation looks as it does.

amother

Wed, Jun 20 2012, 3:42 pm

$9,750 is the amount it costs to send a 5 year old to kindergarten (5 years old no pre 1A) at the Torah School out of town in Silver Spring Maryland. That doesnt include building fund, dinner fees, etc.

My sister sends her kids to school at SAR in Riverdale and I think first grade tuition is like twice that. There are no good answers, but I think $9750 is cheap for Brooklyn considering I pay the same amount out of town.