Ambitious Plan Presented at ‘Tuition Crisis’ Event
A bold and ambitious plan was presented at a Tuesday night event titled “Solving the Tuition Crisis.” A few hundred men and women joined both in person and online and heard about a plan to raise one hundred million dollars.
In an event organized by Rabbi Moshe Lieblich, principal at HaMesivta – United Lubavitcher Yeshiva.
Rabbi Yossi Jacobson spoke of the natural inclination of people to speak negatively, and when those same people are asked about a solution the answer often is “well I don’t know.” He implored the people to set aside that inclination and listen.
Speaking about his first experience meeting a ‘tuition committee’ to discuss enrolling his first child in a Crown Heights school, Rabbi Lieblich said that after going over his family finances with his wife they came to the realization that all they can afford was $4,000.
Sitting in the waiting room, he said the room was silent and there was a sense of fear and dread. Before it was his turn, a woman came out of the office sobbing, and that is when he really got scared, but he was confident that he was okay since he was well prepared.
“I came into the room, sat down and showed him my papers and said ‘I discussed it with my wife and this is what we can afford.’ He looked at me and started yelling that I have the nerve to come into his office and make him an offer.
“He said that the ‘real’ price in $9,000 and that I have the chutzpah to come into his office and ask for a bigger discount. He said that every penny [discount] that he gives me he has to then fundraise, and that I have the chutzpah to ask him fundraise money for my own kid,” he related.
“I tried talking and explaining my situation, but he didn’t even let me talk. After about 15 minutes of going in circles and not coming to any conclusion, I left. I remember walking out and trying to look strong but inside I was crying. I remember feeling broke, dejected and humiliated, thinking that if this is what it is like when I have three kids, what will happen when I have more.”
A 100 Million Dollar Endowment
“I didn’t choose to be here, I didn’t choose to take this project upon myself, but there is no one else,” said Rabbi Lieblich, going on and presenting a three part plan which began with the launching of the “Jewish Education Scholarship Fund”, an endowment with which he seeks to raise one hundred million dollars over ten years.
“We will invest that money and only use the interest and dividends and the money will stay in this account for years to come. Two qualified firms will invest the money conservatively, and based on past performance we are expecting it to yield a 4% return on investment annually,” he announced. “That would be four million dollars a year.”
“Our fund will also help families make full use of the voucher fund, which is a government program for low income families in which both parents are working and it gives money for after school programs per child. It is a very complicated application process with lots of paperwork. We will have an expert team to focus just on that.
“If we get 300 to 400 children enrolled a year, from that program alone we would be able to get two to three million dollars. Together with other government programs, grants and other fundraising, we will hopefully bring in seven million dollars per year.”
Scholarship Eligibility
Lieblich outlined eligibility requirements for parents to qualify as well as for schools to be able to receive scholarship money. The fund would give up to $7,000 per child.
“From experience with other types of foundations and organizations, that as soon as the school receives the scholarship fund they immediately raise tuition and the only ones that gain are the people on the top. My goal is to help struggling families” he said.
“Other condition to receive money from our fund is that the schools need to pay teachers a starting salary of $70,000 a year,” he announced to a round of applause from the audience. “Our teachers work hard and they deserve to be paid a decent salary. There is no reason that we should not be able to attract good teachers and there is also no reason that a teacher should need to work a second or third job just to put food on the table.”
He made a simple calculation that $7,000 would be enough for any school. The average size class is 25 students, all paying $7,000 would result in a $175,000 gross income per class. “Take the $70,000 for salary and the school is left with $105,000 for administration” he said.
The intention of the scholarship is not to take over fundraising for the schools, they would still need to have their dinners, auctions and other fundraising activities to raise money. The goal is only to help struggling families and raise the salaries of teachers and remain independent.
He explained that the process would be that when applying their child for a school year, the parents would meet with the school administration and discuss how much they could afford for tuition. If they could not afford the full amount, the parents would be referred to the scholarship fund.
An independent board will review the parents’ financial situation, while treating them with respect and dignity, and determine their eligibility for a scholarship – up to $7,000.
The board will also determine parents’ eligibility for government assistance and help them fill the necessary applications, as many are unaware that they are eligible for grants for after school programs and the like, and it can be difficult for individual parents to navigate all that paperwork.
Speaking to CrownHeights.info following the event, Lieblich said “the outpouring of support is simply amazing, last night alone we raised several thousand, but really it is much more.”
“We received many small donations of $10 and $36, but that is really ten times more in our long term plan.”
mommy
This.is beutiful such a ahavas yiisroel
Yossi A.
Great program.
As a parent of 8 children, I wish you luck.
I don’t think that the administration of…..& …… would except what most of us can truly pay.
Our family summer vacation is leaving CH for labor day to get away from the neighborhood….
This is like believing the moon
Will fall
This is a joke and never happen. In the geder of pure Bitul Torah.
Learn Hilchos Shabbos
If someone is in a matzav of pikuach nefesh, and 10 people run on Shabbos, each shechting an animal and cooking it to try to save this person’s life, then EVEN IF the person recovers on his own, he only ends up eating from the first animal, or even if he dies, ALL of those who tried did a mitzvah and are not over on chillul Shabbos.
Vehameivin Yavin.
I also hope that you will be proven wrong. This approach is a very practical one, and IY”H will be implemented fully.
Wow!
This is the first time that I have heard any cohesive plan presented to alleviate the tuition crisis that is our reality. Shame on us that there are so many empty seats. I would think that this program would have had a full house. How do we get involved?
fair
So 70,000 teacher saleries. Does that include women teachers.Sure, if they work fewer hours the pay is less, but I sincerely hope this is being thought out.
Salary for experience
That salary will suffice for some teachers. Those teachers that have large families of 7 kids and more, and have to pay a large mortgage or rent, will also have to pay $15 – $20K to purchase health insurance. They will most likely not qualify for any government help – barely making it. All details should be considered for each family.
Reading Comprehension
“Starting Salary” means just that. Not a $70,000 salary CAP (which would, admittedly, still be a significant improvement for most teachers…)
Additionally, I believe that $70,000 before taxes for a family of 9+ should still qualify for assistance in health insurance.
Never mind the fact that really the schools should be offering insurance as a benefit for their employees (or perhaps they are and I just don’t know about it.)
Omg
So empty. Guess not that big of a crisis
Huh?
People are jaded by attempts to “solve” the crisis. The amount of people showing up is not at all an indication of how many are suffering.
Anonymous
Amazing idea , but how do you plan to get a whopping $100,000000.00? !
Reading Comprehension
“over 10 years”
$100 million is a big number, but not outlandish for such a far-reaching plan. Remember that the JCM cost $30+ million in Crown Heights itself, and YU (a SINGLE institution) has a billion dollar+ endowment fund.
Menachem
As soon as he said that his father and brother will manage the funds, I realized that this is another one of those cases where someone is trying to help themselves ……
its up to you!
If parents don’t care enough to fill up the room, to a topic that effects them, then why should a donor care?
Yes of course there’s obvious corruption in the administration, but there are things as a community that you can actively do to help!
All parents on scholarship should gladly volunteer at school events, substituting, carpool, show off your talents and give after school classes, tutoring, security and office help, or gasp start fundraising for the school even if it does not lower your tuition!
Be active on your children’s education. Believe me if it’s important you will find the time. These are just some of the things that my children’s school does, not only does it alleviate money for the school but it creates a community environment. Even those that money do this.
Do many times I’ve seen comments like, “when is someone going to….” Be that someone! If your children’s school is not worth the time and effort to fight for, then why trust them to educate your children?
Again action is required! Pick up and send your children to another school, yes it’s hard but worth the investment.
I carpooled for an hour to get to school and I arrived an hour early bc my parents needed to be at work. I stayed sn additional 2 hours after school with sometimes over an hour drive with traffic. Guess what it was hard, but my parents did it for my education!
there is definitely more than one Jewish school within driving distance from New York!
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst
4% return on conservative safe investments that don’t lose money might be a little rosy in today’s day and age. You could gt long dated investment grade bonds with yields above 4%, but you also have to figure management fees, and overhead expenses for the fund.
Also, $4,000,000 per year by the time the fund is endowed, will barely scratch the surface, assuming natural community growth, and the plan to actually start helping sooner than endowment.
I am not saying it’s not achievable, but I’d rather see more realistic goals, INCREASE the endowment, be realistic about income.
DeClasse' Intellectual
Big deal, even if it works, there is always next year. See it occur many times before
X
Has anyone suggested that if more men worked for a living and fewer expected the community to support them, there would be more individuals in a position to provide support and tuition assistance and fewer who require it? This may not be the problem in every community but in many it is.
Skeptical
Al pi halacha if there are aniyim that are not taken care of in this city is one allowed to sit on 100M for many years and not distribute immediately?
See Tzitz Eliezer about Endowment funds.