Another tuition thread

amother

Fri, Jun 09 2023, 8:49 am

My husband was learning until a couple of years ago. We BH have four children, the oldest turning 19. Our income is approximately $100,000 (not sure exactly since my husband just started a new job mid-last year and it's hourly, not salary). My son is going away to yeshiva next year and the yeshiva's tuition is $17,000/year. When my husband called about a break, they asked how much he is comfortable with. He said $11-12,000. We have been paying 5000--6750 a kid until now. So that is basically double. Not sure how he chose that number (I am in charge of finances lol).
anyhow.... I told my husband I am worried about covering it... he asked how much we have in savings. I said about $40,000. So he thinks better a person should pay for yeshiva than put money away for future simchos. and I get that. but I also wonder if they expect you to go into savings to pay...
I donno... What do you think?

amother

Skyblue

Fri, Jun 09 2023, 9:06 am

amother NeonOrange wrote:

Tuition committees don't generally want to leave you without savings. They don't want you sitting on millions while claiming poverty, but that's not your case.

That's not been my experience.
We have exactly $3500 in savings and tuition committees don't care.
Imo, the biggest challenge to that is that there are multiple different schools and multiple different committees and each one thinks that their tuition should be paid in full and given priority.

OP, my opinion is that 25% of ones income (divided equally among all the schools) is fair. But schools don't seem to constantly my opinion

amother

Hyacinth

Fri, Jun 09 2023, 9:42 am

amother OP wrote:

Sending to a dorm yeshiva will cost you more straight out. You are paying room and board in addition to tuition.

My son's yeshiva has a clear breakdown- what's tuition, what's dorm and what's food.

The general rule is, that you don't get breaks on room and board. But the tuition part is negotiable. So we get 50% off tuition, which is similar to what we paid in elementary school, but playing room and board makes the total cost about double. (Actually, room and board is more than actual tuition Smile

)

I think most yeshivas are like this. And you have to keep that in mind when you're negotiating. That you are paying rent and food as well. Which are real tangible costs. So don't expect it to be the same as in town schools.

My daughter goes to a high school which has a dorm, (she doesn't dorm) but I looked into it as well. The dorm cost is fixed and non-negotiable. And more than what their post scholarship tuition.

Add to that base tuitions for high schools/mesivtas are higher to begin with.

Bottom line is, expect to pay double if you're sending out of town. And it's not unreasonable.

amother

Vanilla

Fri, Jun 09 2023, 4:46 pm

I was quoted about $4000 more than last year for my daughter . I understood why they were increasing but I know that I can’t pay it. My DH and I have an Excel spreadsheet with all our income and expenses . It’s our budget . I sent in my entire budget to the tuition committee for them to see my expenses and my income . I told them how much I am able to afford for this year max. They came back and are charging me the max I told them I could pay. I feel so grateful that they really took everything into consideration and I didn’t need to beg.