Help Tuition Assistance to be a reality in all 50 states

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:51 am

amother Seashell wrote:

This has nothing to do with Ohio and Florida.
I don't know much about Ohio but Florida gives parents a certain amount of money and they could use it towards a private school or public school.

This has to do with giving a tax rebate to people who donate to a scholarship fund and then that scholarship fund gets doled out probably to mostly lower class ppl (who probably already get breaks) & has many limits & rules.
Will it be like CHS where the price for places that accept CHS have gone up through the roof for those who don't have CHS?

No, it won't.
CHS has a high reimbursement rate and childcare centers need to set their charge that high in order to get the full amount back from the government. It also costs more to have smaller, legal ratios and meet licensing criteria.

This is all just a pool of money that will get distributed to some parents but has no financial hardship on a school's budget.

amother

Black

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:53 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

I don't know how this will be structured but an SGO is an outside organization, not the school, that handles the money and distribution. I'm not sure it will raise tuition amounts at all since it's not going to be given to every parent and the school doesn't really have free reign how to distribute it.

Tuition rates will increase no matter what due to cost of living but not due to this program.

The schools have free reign about their policies.

They can raise tuition another 5k a year, pocket the sgo scholarship money, and still charge the parents 5k a month.

And since we know that the tuition cost doesn't cover the cost of education anyway (I'd still love to see my children's schools books!!!) the middle and upper class will just have the shtell tzu to the higher tuition costs.

I sent the email anyway. But I have very minimal hope that it'll benefit me at all.

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:55 am

amother Black wrote:

The amount of money likely going to be given in scholarships to parents in any given school won't be in the thousands per child range for a school to even think it makes sense to raise prices like that.

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:57 am

amother Maroon wrote:

How would this work for states that have a Blaine Amendment?

Since it's a federal program and SCOTUS ruled in favor of parents who choose to send to religious schools, I'm not sure why there should be any bearing.

amother

↑ Lawngreen

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:58 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

I would assume schools will ask you to sign if you got the scholarship money or not and if you did they will not give you a tuition reduction. They will say to use that money so they don't have to give you a discount.

Maybe you think some us of are cynical but many of us have been repeatedly burned in the past from our schools. Schools got millions during covid and none of that savings was passed along...I asked for a slight discount after paying full tuition for years because my husband's job was inactive during covid, when my kids were sitting home doing nothing, and the unemployment money took a very long time to come through and I was told no. Schools get money for upk and still charge. So why would this be any different?

amother

↑ Jade

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 9:59 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

The schools don't care about making sense. They only care about making cents (and dollars). They can do whatever they want with zero transparency and they dont have to answer to anyone

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:30 am

I urge people to read this language:
Congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9462/text

No government oversight allowed on the school.

Seems like they're capping at 100 million per state if I understood correctly.

This is very different than any things mentioned before.

(I've also said many times in the past that covid funding had many strings attached, a lot did go to cover losses, and wasn't really accessible funding to lower tuition for the masses.)

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:31 am

amother Jade wrote:

The schools don't care about making sense. They only care about making cents (and dollars). They can do whatever they want with zero transparency and they dont have to answer to anyone

I am truly sorry you're sending to a school like that. (I am not sarcastic, I'm just sad about that type of situation.)

Last edited by Hashem_Yaazor on Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:34 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

↑ Raspberry

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:34 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

So all of this for an amount that won't make much of a difference?
Either the number will be insignificant (a couple hundred to a thousand percent child) so schools won't raise
Or it will be significant and the schools will raise tuition to counteract the savings, and the drowning families will still be drowning.

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:35 am

amother Raspberry wrote:

We can't know yet. But let's say 25% of parents get 1500 off each child. Why would schools raise tuition by 1500 per child and not be able to collect from the remaining 75%?

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:41 am

amother Lawngreen wrote:

Currently SGO money is given straight to the school, so the school knows already.
I am not sure with this program how it will work since certain tutoring qualifies. It may be a reimbursement, kind of like a different program Ohio has had for a couple years where you turn in an invoice. Details aren't all known yet.

Only about 20ish students in my school get SGO funds from our state program currently because funding is so limited.

amother

Tuberose ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:53 am

I'm really not understanding how this will work.

Can someone dummy it down for me.

It sounds like you get a tax credit for donating money to a scholarship fund. But if people don't donate then they don't get tax credit? Correct? And if they get a tax credit, how is it helping tuition? The scholarship fund will only be able to help if people donate to it. Right now you can get tax credits for charitable donations in general. How is this different?

And what if we are "upper middle class" so we get no breaks and pay almost one full salary in tuition for my kids, and living off our second salary that needs to cover everything else?

Do I have the facts or am I totally off?

amother

↑ Trillium ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:54 am

amother Ecru wrote:

It looks like it’s for families making around 48,000 a year which is nothing but maybe it will open the door for more.

We make less than that and I sign people up for SNAP in the community and lots of families are making less than that. Tax credits don't help people who don't make enough to have a big tax bill. But our children should also get a Jewish education. You don't have to be rich to be Jewish.

amother

↑ Trillium ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:59 am

Aurora wrote:

It's called "food stamps." Kosher food is still a religious choice. We are choosing to be Jews. This is a choice we have made to be religious in a way that comes with costs. And I agree that yeshiva tuition is a very hard and expensive cost - but it is ours and comes from our having chosen this life.

And no, it's not the same. Your case for subsidizing kosher food stamps is a much stronger one davka because of the differences.

You can use food stamps on kosher food. as it should be. I'm failing to see the point here.

amother

↑ Trillium

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 11:06 am

In Florida we get about $8K per child to do what we want. I think that amount is about what it would cost the public school to educate a child. For special needs kids they are getting a bargain because we get $10K and it costs them way more than that.

If this causes the public schools to not have enough children to be efficient then the general public could try making a higher birthrate more possible. If they don't I don't see how this is our responsibility as parents.

Our children are not safe in public schools. Public schools do not keep Christianity out of it. There are shootings way too often in public schools. The MSD school shooter said he was going to target the Jewish kids and did k I'll a lot of Jewish kids and nobody did squat. I don't see the general public taking our input on any of this so they can't have our children. And if they aren't providing the service I don't see why they should get the money.

amother

↑ NeonPink

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 11:40 am

Aurora wrote:

This is a good question. I am not sure. And part of the reason I don't want to answer is because I'm not on food stamps. That's not a choice I'm facing - but I am facing yeshiva tuition and saying no.

But you said earlier that tuition was different from food - and I agreed. It's why I said you made a stronger case for the kosher food stamps.

And, again, we are choosing to be Jews and choosing a lifestyle that is more expensive. Why are we asking a public and secular government to pay for our choices in a way that takes money from others in the system? Especially in something that is very likely to come back to haunt us?

I'm not saying the government should pay us for our religious choices. Just we should get what everyone else gets, considering that we pay into the system too.

About that it can come back to haunt us if they use that to control us. This is a separate concern, and I agree with being concerned. I dont think it's in issue with the voucher system but not sure about this proposal

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 12:32 pm

amother NeonPink wrote:

It is explicitly written in the text that there can be no demands on the education from any government entity.

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 12:35 pm

amother Tuberose wrote:

If someone has to pay taxes and would rather choose it to go to education, they can up to a certain amount with this initiative.
It cannot be double dipped for charitable donations, but many no longer itemize anymore anyway.

When a significant amount of people pay into this, it gets divided to the stars that will then divide it amongst those who apply for the scholarship.

It's a win win in that you're paying the money anyway, now you can actually control somewhat what it's used for. It costs you nothing more and now private school students can have an ease on their financial burden.

amother

↑ Nemesia ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 12:41 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

if you took a poll of the parent body in your school. how many parents would answer in the affirmative that this helped them?