Salary s/o Baltimore

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, May 11 2022, 11:37 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I don’t know if we’d fit in so we’ll since we’re not very yeshivish. But there is a small shul that is looking to relocate and start a new neighborhood in Owings mills that we may consider if it actually takes off.

Really?? Would you feel comfortable sharing?
We moved here almost two years ago and Bh bought a house at a good price with good interest rates. But we don’t love our neighborhood and we would love to move into a bigger house with really great neighbors! We are bh a family of 7…

amother

Wed, May 11 2022, 11:56 am

amother [ Fuchsia ] wrote:

Sure. It’s KSA (R’ Iser) which is in the Weinberg that’s on the corner of Fallstaff and Clark’s (like diagonal to Weiss’s). I have no idea if and when this will happen but that’s what I’ve heard.

amother

Strawberry

Wed, May 11 2022, 1:24 pm

amother [ Fuchsia ] wrote:

whereabouts in Owings mills? do they have a location yet? sounds great...

amother

Clear

Wed, May 11 2022, 1:42 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Hearing that a rav said many year ago that a family of 6 would need 200K makes me so nervous because that number is for sure waaaay up now.

I disagree with that statement.
We are a family of 6 in Baltimore and make about $130k. We pay full tuition for 3 kids.
We live pretty frugally compared to many (no cleaning help, no expensive clothing, no sleepaway camp yet, etc.) but live in a good neighborhood. BH we have enough money for all our needs.
However, for a family of 6 looking to buy a house now, I think it would be a very different story. The housing prices have skyrocketed.

amother

Clear

Wed, May 11 2022, 1:49 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Interesting... I had not heard this.
Would love to hear any details!

amother

Wed, May 11 2022, 3:40 pm

amother [ Clear ] wrote:

Okay that’s good to hear but it could be the housing prices now would really make such a difference that 200K wouldn’t be enough.

For those asking for details about Owings mills community/KSA I really don’t have any other info. My guess is it wouldn’t happen for at least a few more years because many or most of the families at KSA are young families who may not be ready to buy a house for a bit.

amother

Apple

Tue, Aug 02 2022, 12:20 am

amother [ Clear ] wrote:

Do you pay full tuition by choice or because you were told no tuition break when you asked? I'm curious if anyone knows the cutoff for getting a tuition break if you have 4 kids in the various schools.

amother

Crocus

Tue, Aug 02 2022, 12:25 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

This is a big rumor. As a member of the shul, there is an dream/idea floating arnd that sometime in a long time in order to build, it would have to be not in the immediate community due to issues other shuls have had to deal with when building. However, the rav and people on the board are quite doubtful this could actually happen because you would need many families to commit at the same time to create community, minyan, mikvah etc
For those interested the should just moved to storch's pool house

amother

NeonGreen

Tue, Aug 02 2022, 3:15 am

Disclaomer: I dont live in Baltimore but in another largish oot city with tuition at about 7-10k a kid (preschool and elementary). We make about 150k with 5 young kids elementary and down and bh the schools still give us a break of about 1-2k a kid. Not tons but still very very much appreciated. We pay about 25k tuition for 4 kids in school.

amother

Clear

Tue, Aug 02 2022, 7:56 am

amother [ Apple ] wrote:

We have never asked for a tuition break yet. I have no idea what the cutoff is. We feel that it is our responsibility to pay full as long as we can. Tuition comes first as a priority before cleaning help and other extras. Sadly, I think we are alone in this mentality and it kinda hurts. Probably next year when we have 4 tuitions, we might ask.

amother

Almond

Tue, Aug 02 2022, 8:53 am

amother [ Apple ] wrote:

There is no cutoff; that's the point. They look at each situation individually.

amother

Apple

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 1:36 am

amother [ Clear ] wrote:

I think if the community as a whole and the school doesnt look at it like that you are welcome to join the club of people asking for tuition breaks. we have cleaning help and we have a tuition break. I dont think they expect you to have zero extras just to pay the (inflated) tuition price. Chances are if you're nearly making it, you will end up with a tuition bill that covers your kids costs and just wont be inflated to pay for the other peoples more significant tuition breaks. you shouldn't feel guilty. that's my opinion.

amother

Chocolate

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 9:01 am

amother [ Clear ] wrote:

are you resentful of the fact that it's post taxes. where we live many people pay minimal tuition due to edchoice rules (ohio) and my husband is resentful of the fact that they can then "donate", get a tax receipt and seem so magnanimus, while we are expected to pay post taxes making it be a lot more.

It's nice that you are both at least on the same page. we used to be but my husband has decided he's done trying to do the right thing. if the norm is to pay x for the same exact education our children are getting, why should we pay more. Unfortunately the tuition committe disagrees with him. It's really stresseing me out

amother

Clear

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 10:29 am

amother [ Chocolate ] wrote:

Not to hijack op’s thread, but yes, we are somewhat resentful that others do not prioritize tuition like we do. I think it’s a generational thing. Our parents’ generation was much more responsible about tuition obligations.

amother

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 10:55 am

Re getting cleaning help and asking for a tuition break, I don’t personally think that’s wrong. If a family needs cleaning help to manage then who can say that’s a luxury for them? One or both spouses may choose to work harder jobs/long hours and in order to manage their difficult work schedules they need cleaning help, just as they may need to pay for childcare. Obviously I’m not talking about extremes of paying for full time help when you can’t afford it etc

amother

Snow

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 11:20 am

Quote:

Agreed. When we first moved to Baltimore, we lived in a relatives (empty) house for a bit. It was rent free. Someone asked why I was working full time if we weren't paying rent--couldn't we live on just my husband's salary? My one word answer was tuition. I wasn't looking to milk the system.

Someone asked what the cut off was. We make over 200k, but my tuition is jumping drastically next year. I pay full tuition. I called my daughters' school to ask why there was such a huge hike. The person in the business office said "we're not looking to choke you. If you feel you can't do it, then please apply for a tuition break". She wasn't mocking, she was dead serious.

amother

Ivory

Wed, Aug 03 2022, 12:05 pm

To address your concern about full tuition. We paid full tuition for a lot of years until our family grew and our tuition bill just got to be too much. We filled out the scholarship applications honestly and I was really nervous they would take one look at our salaries and say no but they gave us a break with no issues. It's not a huge break and we're still tight but we can survive. I think the schools understand that it takes a lot to live nowadays.