Admission cards | Imamother

amother

Azure

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 3:50 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Chicken twice a week is definitely a luxury . When things were tight we had beans for protein and chicken only for Shabbos.

Did you live in the US? So you served your school age and high school kids beans every night for supper? I'm assuming it was cholent beans on Sunday, chick peas on Monday, pinto beans on Tuesday, navy beans on Wednesday, and quadruple surprise on Thursday? And you did this for twenty years, all through the years your kids were in school, just so you could pay full tuition? If so, I salute you. And this is a level of mesiras nefesh that should really be rewarded. But please understand that us common folks are not on such a high madreiga.

In any case, it wouldn't help too much. My food bill is approximately a thousand dollars a month. Let's say I manage to get my family to eat beans, bread and water only, and I manage to bring my bill down to five hundred a month. That's a savings of exactly five hundred dollars, barely covering one tuition. How would that help me?

amother

Azure

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 3:53 pm

amother [ Puce ] wrote:

Most people are living above their means in the community. I look around at the conspicuous consumption and realize how easy it would be to cut.

It's ridiculous that every time a cost cutting strategy is mentioned, some amother comes up with a justification of why the luxury is needed.

As a community, if we want everyone to have the same minimum lifestyle, we should choose one with a low common denominator rather than an upper middle class one as the basis. Not everyone can afford the $50,000 to $70,000 to marry off their kids. They end up relying on the community.

Maybe that is where the cut should be to fund education. Maybe the newlyweds don't get Italian furniture or the kallah gets a complete diamond jewelry set. Maybe some of this gratification could come as it is earned.

I don't see how this is sustainable.

I just want to point out that I recently married off a child. The entire cost, everything included, was under $20,000.

And yes, I'm the same amother who's complaining about tuition.

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 5:22 pm

One of my coworker also can’t sign her tuition agreement and her 14 year old can’t go school in the morning.
She is a single mom, father really does not help Child is going to high school.
She earns a bit less than $60,000 a year - she rents a modest apartment the school is asking 18,000 for the year - and yes he has learning disabilities and needs resource room so this is the best school for him.

What is she supposed to live on. She is actually thinking that maybe on Sunday and maybe in the evening after work she can clean houses for extra cash.
Is the life of a frum women. That she is ready to do anything to keep her kids in a yeshiva. Public school
Is not an option where they live And moving is not an option because she will not get a job that pays as well as she makes now.
Op I feel for you and all women in that situation.

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 6:00 pm

In all these discussions, no one ever discusses how the SCHOOLS can cut luxury spending. Yes, the schools. Do you know how much your administrators are paid? I bet you don't. Mine gets paid to the tune of upwards 250,000 a year. At least, the one I know of. There are four more. And this is a small school. The Rebbes get paid pretty well, and usually the female teachers get paid much less.

There's somehow money for all this "security", which amounts to overweight schlubby guys sitting at the front of your school all day with a fancy uniform.

There's money for buildings and new buildings and building funds. I went to school is a small building, with no fancy amenities. It was gross, to be honest. But the money my parents scrounged together somehow went directly to our education and our teachers, but now every child needs a gym with reclaimed bamboo flooring. And every parent faints with horror when you tell them that maybe their children's school doesn't need a gorgeous entry-hall and top of the line equipment.

We are yeshivish, so there's no technology whatsoever, so don't argue that times have changed and they need computers. There's no science to speak of, either.

Stop getting fundraisers to put their name on a building and walk away, and start getting them to put their "name" on a specific child. Tell them - Here, this child's education and upbringing is partly yours. Congratulations.

For all of you who go to more "modern" schools with well paid and highly educated teachers, with science labs and computers, well, your tuition is what it is. But for someone like us, I honestly don't understand where my $75,000 goes. $75,000 I have to pay, in advance, and you all are lecturing me about bar mitzvahs and camps?

amother

Puce

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 6:42 pm

amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:

I was an administrator in a school that did as you suggested. When someone couldn't afford the tuition, they found sponsors for that boy. It might be 4 people who commit to several hundred monthly. It might be one person. It was a Jewish Save the Children.

amother

Slateblue

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 8:25 pm

amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:

While the schools shld budget better and let parents know where $ is spent, the teachers and rabbeim certainly deserve a good salary. While I dont think admins shld get paid more, I dont think they get paid that much. How do you know the admins in your school get paid 250k? I dont believe that's the pay for most admins in Jewish schools.

However, interesting that you think "the big men sitting in front of the building" doesn't constitute"security, while I agree with you that if they are unarmed, they are useless, most parents think their school is safer bec of these security"" gaurds"". NY public schools also have safety"" officers with no guns such that if, chvs, there were a gang shooting or...what could "security" do?? They would get shot first. But, the schools are not paying for these "security gaurds". The state of ny pays for gaurds"" in ny.

Back to the topic, 75k is not a lot if you have a lot kids in school considering tuition is around 10 to 12k or more in certain ny/nj schoos. However, think of all the expenses besides salaries. Electricity, paper for copies, ink for printers, toilet paper, soap, heat, ac(which is a lot), maintenance, ...mortgage /rent, upkeep of playground, upkeep of building, copy machines...upkeep or new desks/chairs/furniture....are just some of the expenses besides for salaries of all staff.

Also, many yeshivish schools have computers for math/ela learning programs and smartboards(the rebbis also use them to help teach better)....your kids schools has absolutely no technology??? No computers in the offices(which needs to be updated....)

amother

Linen

Mon, Sep 02 2019, 9:18 pm

amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:

My kids school also has no technology, but they waste a lot of money on stupidities. The hallways are covered in such expensive posters that one of the school rules is "no touching the hallway walls, if anyone damages a poster they have to pay for it". They give out all kinds of expensive booklets during the year and if your child loses it, you have to pay for it. I can't remember what else bothered me last year, but there were quite a few times when I felt like calling and asking them to stop wasting my money and instead reduce my tuition.

imasoftov

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 5:33 am

amother [ Copper ] wrote:

And what do you do with (sorry, I forgot the Hebrew text of it. Its in pirkei avos) a man should first find a job, then a house, and then a wife?

I don't think it's in Pirkei Avot, but it is in the Gemara, Sotah 44a

תנו רבנן אשר בנה אשר נטע אשר ארש לימדה תורה דרך ארץ שיבנה אדם בית ויטע כרם ואח"כ ישא אשה ואף שלמה אמר בחכמתו (משלי כד, כז) הכן בחוץ מלאכתך ועתדה בשדה לך אחר ובנית ביתך הכן בחוץ מלאכתך זה בית ועתדה בשדה לך זה כרם אחר ובנית ביתך זו אשה

§ The Sages taught (Tosefta 7:20-21): The Torah states: “What man is there that has built” (Deuteronomy 20:5), and then “that has planted” (Deuteronomy 20:6), and finally “that has betrothed” (Deuteronomy 20:7). The Torah has taught a person the desired mode of behavior: A person should build a house, then plant a vineyard, and afterward marry a woman. And even King Solomon said in his wisdom: “Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). The Sages explained: “Prepare your work outside”; this is a house. “And make it fit for yourself in the field”; this is a vineyard. “And afterward you shall build your house”; this is a wife.

amother

Puce

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 5:37 am

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

It would help the school. That's $500 more for salaries or whatever. Now times your $500 by the 2000 families that go through the school in 20 years.

amother

Tue, Sep 03 2019, 10:20 am

OP here. DH will be calling the school today to ask them if he can give a very post dated check.

I have no idea how schools divide their funds they receive but everyone should please keep in mind that I mentioned in my OP-I'm talking about the BUILDING fund. I paid the first months tuition and the registration fees. the building fund of 1k I just don't have the money for right now.
If they had rechnitz donate a few milliion towards their building and have a wedding hall I can't imagine why each year they need to ask for more money towards 'building fund' but I know schools need lots of money. I'm just frustrated that I can't pay Sad

Rivky

Thu, Sep 05 2019, 10:52 pm

I'm always trying to understand (and if anyone is on the other side of the fence here and can clarify that would be helpful!) why the schools and tuitions are put on the back burner for some parents. If your gas or electric or car payment doesn't get paid, they'll shut you down. They might figure out a payment plan with you but at the end of the day, there's a plan in place. I don't get the attitude of some of expecting the schools to allow your kids in without a plan of some sort throughout the year. How can we expect rebbeim and teachers to give it their all to our children if they don't get paid well? They're the ones spending so much time with our children every day, a decent, respectable salary should definitely be expected. Even those that live with the very minimum and excess spending is none existing, it's so so hard when money is tight and you can't make ends meet, but why the schools? Shouldn't they be the first to get paid, so the faculty teaching our kids can be paid too? Unless I'm missing something here. Sad

amother

Copper

Fri, Sep 06 2019, 9:12 am

Rivky wrote:

I'll try to clarify. I wouldn't compare tuition to an electric bill or car payment, since the cost of tuition is probably ten times as much. You can somehow try to figure out where to get a few hundred dollars here and there a month, but coming up with extra thousands per month is almost an impossible feat if you're dealing with financial struggles.

I'd rather compare tuition to a mortgage/rent (though in many cases, tuition is double that amount as well). If you can't pay your mortgage, you will eventually lose your house. But you have options - you can either move to a community where the housing costs are cheaper, downgrade to a smaller home, move in with parents, or in worst case scenarios go to a shelter. But what options do we have with schooling? All Jewish schools are private. The rates are pretty comparable in all communities, give or take a bit (it still costs thousands, no matter what). Public schools are not an option. Leaving the kids home all day is not an option. Homeschooling is usually not an option either, because both parents are working full time to put food on the table.

Schooling is an absolute necessity for all of our children. And as long as our communities don't provide an acceptable alternative to the expensive private schools, they need to accommodate and work with all parents, regardless of the ability to pay.