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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Israel related Inquiries & Aliyah Questions
Making it work financially?



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amother


 

Post Tue, Jan 27 2015, 11:54 pm
Theoretically EY seems like a great fit for our family in many ways. We have considered Aliyah very seriously and every time we crunch the numbers they just don't add up :-( Any advice?

DH would be coming as a student, either for a masters or phd in some branch of biology. So he would get a stipend for that but wouldn't be qualified for professional work for several years.

I work in special ed and do well in our current location. I probably am not fluent enough in Hebrew to get Israeli certification right away and with dh in school I don't know if I could spare the time anyway. I could maybe get some jobs privately tutoring English-speakers but that's limiting because it has to be after school hours, so there's only so much you can do and I would need care for my own kids then. I also do some freelancing that could bring in maybe $1000/month if I do well (if I don't have any other work maybe I could get even more aggressive about it but I don't want to count chickens before they hatch...)

We have 2 kids, preschool/beginning school age. Would need to live at least somewhat near whichever science school dh could get into. We are not very high-maintenance but can't *quite* live on nothing either. We could probably be classified as RWMO, in Israeli does that translate as chardal?

Any ideas if there is a way to make this work, or do we just need to give up and stay where my jobs are? :-(
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blueberries




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jan 28 2015, 11:12 am
Just do it. Many Israelis have already said we don't live in Israel for the money we live there for its holiness. You are fortunate enough to have an education and your husband will eventually graduate. It will be hard in the beginning but eventually it will pay off. Good Luck.
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Sanguine




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jan 28 2015, 1:51 pm
Don't "Just do it" unless you want to fail. You have to think and prepare

Quote:
DH would be coming as a student, either for a masters or phd in some branch of biology. So he would get a stipend for that but wouldn't be qualified for professional work for several years.

Masters or PHD? He's getting a stipend from America? To pay tuition or also some salary? Or will he also work? You're going to need a job. Tutoring pays nicely but you have to get enough jobs. English Chugim makes a lot but it won't work with little kids. Our elementary school allows (even recommends) private tutoring during school hours. If the child needs a lot of help they're not learning much in class anyway so a private tutor during classtime is great.

Quote:
We are not very high-maintenance but can't *quite* live on nothing either.

Even low maintenance costs a lot in Israel. Food is a big part of everyone's budget,

Quote:
We could probably be classified as RWMO, in Israeli does that translate as chardal?

May be Torani.

Quote:
Any ideas if there is a way to make this work, or do we just need to give up and stay where my jobs are?

Well you definitely can't live on $1,000 a month but there can be other ideas
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amother


 

Post Wed, Jan 28 2015, 10:44 pm
@blueberries: Um, no. Everything I hear from others says work out the details before making Aliyah. Israel does not need more charity cases and I certainly don't want to be one.

@Sanguine:
-Masters or PhD, yes. In the sciences, there is some overlap, or one can lead to another, or they are combined into one. For PhDs in the sciences there are stipends for the lab work you do as part of the training. Tuition is paid for as an Aliyah benefit as long as you start at masters level before age 30, so this is a pretty timely issue, we can make it in enough time but we don't have several years to mull over it. It's now/soon or (likely) never.
-What does Torani mean exactly?
-When you say "there can be other ideas" that's exactly the point of this thread. What can be other ideas? I would love to know about these. DH would be busy full time with school so they would have to be either ideas of how to save significantly on living expenses or for me to earn more (and yes I have a professional degree but it's not the most portable; I would have to re-certify if I want an official job in Israel and my specialty is very language-heavy; though theoretically my qualifications would also cover nonverbal level special education that is not my expertise at all)
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mama g




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jan 28 2015, 11:44 pm
Have you checked which benefits you would qualify for? NBN has a calculator:

http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpe.....ator/

http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpe.....fits/
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jan 29 2015, 12:35 am
Yes, did that. I'm talking about still having a gap between income and expenses after that. Of course I can't know *exactly* what expenses will be but I think I did a pretty responsible job of trying to come up with an estimate, based on asking a friend who lives there with a similar family makeup to me, a relative who has a larger family but lives super simply and I cut down that estimate to adjust for family size, and the NBN chart of what to expect.

Then for income I figured benefits, what a science friend said a typical student research stipend is, and my freelancing fees which I have been a little more generous in estimating because I am pretty sure I could do better, currently it is more of a side thing because I have a regular job as well.

Currently we are barely making ends meet so no way to really save up for this to get us through student years. We do have some savings from before we got married and before our expenses caught up with our income, but it's not such a huge fortune and I don't want to count on it for regular anticipated expenses because we will surely need to spend a bundle on moving/setup and I also want to have something left to fall back on in case the need arises later. It would also be nice to be that much closer to a down payment once we find a place to settle and are in a position to save for that.

It's really a matter of how to get through 3-4 years or so until DH is qualified for a more professional-level job. If we try and then leave before he finishes school, we may have to pay back any scholarship which would be insane. If we make it through the end of school and things are not working out, then we could always come back, worst case scenario. Though my thought is that if we can make it through school then we can probably make it for the long term IY"H.
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 29 2015, 1:16 am
Would you be interested in retraining as an English teacher? Many people do this when making aliyah, regardless of what they taught before. There is also a demand for tutors of English.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jan 29 2015, 1:33 am
grace413 wrote:
Would you be interested in retraining as an English teacher? Many people do this when making aliyah, regardless of what they taught before. There is also a demand for tutors of English.

I would love to be an English teacher but have three concerns:
1. Is there a demand for this? It would seem that with so many olim and this being a fairly obvious choice, there must be a lot of people already in the field.
2. What would retraining entail? I don't know if I could spare the time and energy and childcare costs while getting my family settled in a new place, holding down the home while DH is in school and labs all the time, and trying to rustle up some income.
3. I read that you need to be fluent in Hebrew to be accepted as any kind of teacher, even of a foreign language. My English language skills happen to be really excellent but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be due to a language giftedness because it's only English. I have a very hard time picking up new languages and despite a full Jewish education my Hebrew is pretty laughable. I think I could just about survive living in Israel because many people speak English anyway and I can manage to not mind embarrassing myself all the time, but I don't know if I could swing a professional job that requires you to be fluent. And I don't know if students would respect me with my Hebrew being so bad. I read it better than I hear it, I can read quite well but in conversations I get lost very quickly.
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 29 2015, 1:45 am
I believe there are English teaching positions in many places, especially if you are not in the Jerusalem area. I do know at least one high school English teacher who was a very new olah with limited Hebrew when she started. NBN can probably give you details re retraining.

While I do understand that learning a new language is difficult, and that you have young children, I do feel it is very important to learn Hebrew. I wouldn't let lack of Hebrew stop you from making aliyah, but be aware that you will need to interact with individuals who don't speak English.

People charge a lot for tutoring. It would be worthwhile to hire a baby-sitter for a few hours so you could tutor.
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Karnash




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 29 2015, 1:54 am
There is definitely a demand for qualified English teachers and most colleges have a 1 year program for retraining academics. It is even possible to get a job while you are in the program. On August 31st, schools scramble to find teachers to fill spots they haven't been able to fill with qualified teachers beforehand.

There is also technical writing - but I don't know what your hebrew skills have to be for that field.

There are also private language schools like Berlitz and Wall St. that hire english-speaking academics who don't necessarily have a degree in ESL.

If you are interested in teaching English I think you have a good chance of finding a job - probably not the perfect job, to begin with, but something to help you bridge the gap until you are qualified.
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