Tuition Assistance

amother

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 9:19 pm

If you live in Baltimore, at what point would you seek tuition assistance? We have 3 kids in real school (elementary/middle) and our income is about $140k. Next year we'll have 4 in school beH.
We prided ourselves on always paying full tuition, but it is getting harder and harder to do so, to the point that we're no longer putting anything away in savings. Are we being silly for not asking for tuition assistance at this stage? I just don't understand how even bigger families are able to pay full tuition.

B'Syata D'Shmya

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:08 pm

amother OP wrote:

Just out of curiosity, are you asking for tuition assistance in order to put money away for savings?

amother

Bluebell

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:09 pm

Definitely ask. If you don’t qualify - you don’t qualify. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
But you most likely will quality. We make around same amount and we didn’t ask while we could manage until we couldn’t (more kids in schools, cost of living going up, unexpected but unavoidable expenses, heath issues, etc.)
Our older kids know that we get tuition assistance. We have a lot of hakarat hatov for the schools that help us out. Our oldest knows the exact amounts.
We are not in Baltimore.

amother

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:13 pm

B'Siyata DiShamaya wrote:

Just out of curiosity, are you asking for tuition assistance in order to put money away for savings?

No. Already at this point we can't put away money, but for next year with 4 kids in school, we literally won't have enough to live off of. And no, we don't live in an expensive house or have luxuries that many others have.

amother

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:15 pm

amother Bluebell wrote:

Thanks.

amother

Salmon

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:18 pm

B'Siyata DiShamaya wrote:

Just out of curiosity, are you asking for tuition assistance in order to put money away for savings?

Savings like let’s have money to go on vacation and fix up the house or savings like let’s put a bit away for retirement and weddings and such? Because I feel like the second is absolutely necessary… otherwise you get to that stage and go bankrupt and starve. Everyone should be putting SOMETHING in savings. Just not like thousands each month and then ask for assistance…

amother

Salmon

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

Yes definitely ask.

amother

Birch

Sat, Sep 02 2023, 11:21 pm

I'm in Baltimore. I dont earn that much and we get tuition breaks. But I think you should apply for tuition breaks next year if you find this year that money is very tight. You should be able to put money aside in retirement funds, and even small amounts of savings for barmitzvahs, weddings etc. If you dont ask, you wont get.

amother

Apple

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 3:08 am

I live in Baltimore.

Background: I have 5 kids and was paying full tuition on a little over $200k in combined salary. My kids at the time of the story were kindergarten through beis medresh.
There was a big jump in tuition in one of the schools I send to. I called the office to ask why they made such a huge jump. The person in charge of tuition said to me "we don't want to squeeze you more than you can comfortably pay. Even with your salary, if you feel you are choking, please apply for tuition assistance." We felt guilty asking and didn't and were very tight. Full tuition for 5 (including yeshiva room and board) is basically an entire salary.

Fast forward like 6 months. My husband lost his job and we were at about 1/2 our income. We contacted the 3 schools/yeshivos that my kids attended and every single one of them worked with us and gave us nice breaks.

The schools don't want to starve you just to get your money. If you can't make ends meet (and have a cushion for emergencies), you totally can ask for a break. They may not give you any and they may give you but not the amount you request. The tuition committees are reasonable and if you are honest, they will listen.

amother

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 10:02 am

amother Apple wrote:

Yes, so true, the bolded. Next year I'll have 1 in yeshiva beH, so total tuition for all kids would likely be around $60k, it's insane.

amother

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 10:03 am

amother Bluebonnet wrote:

I live in Baltimore and think you should apply. At one point we were making over 100,000 with two kids and got a slight tuition reduction. Doesn't hurt to be honest and ask.

Thanks, good to know.

amother

Caramel

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 11:18 am

Yes. We have some savings and although we're living month to month otherwise, we do have those savings we can dip into...We also always prided ourselves on paying full tuition, and it was hard to ask, but it's so much easier to breathe now that we did. One school gave us a small break, one a much larger one.

There's something that is important to understand about Baltimore, at least about the two community schools (TA and BY). They don't believe in turning people away because they can't pay. So they charge everyone more than their child's schooling actually costs, and they also fundraise a lot. Which means that unlike in many NY schools, where if you get a tuition break, you are paying less than it costs to educate your child, in these schools you are already paying more than it costs to educate your child. They may give you a break so that you're paying the amount that it actually costs, instead of above and beyond.

Knowing that made me feel less guilty about it. Please do apply for a break.

B'Syata D'Shmya

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 12:34 pm

amother OP wrote:

So you are asking for consideration on your tuition because you literally don't have the money. So whats the question??

amother

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 3:27 pm

amother Caramel wrote:

Thanks, this helps.

amother

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 12:36 pm

Question: If you have children in multiple schools, and up until now, you've always paid full tuition, how do you answer the following question on a tuition assistance application: "How much of this child's tuition can you pay?"
In other words, do I write what we can pay assuming the other schools give us no tuition break, or do I write what we can pay assuming the other schools will give some break?

amother

Apple

Wed, Jan 31 2024, 3:58 pm

Quote:

The way tuition break requests works in Baltimore is there is one form for all the schools. You just check all the schools you are requesting a break from. Put in what you think you can pay per school. In the comments you can mention this is pending a break from the other schools.