School taking drastic measures

amother

↑ Tulip ↓

Today at 6:43 pm

kosherkween wrote:

I am not at all on high end of earners. We both work very hard to make ends meet and live paycheck to paycheck.

Dh is admin of mosad, making 70k a year (gross) working his a** off calling parent after parents and getting nowhere. Meanwhile our credit cards (and some of my fathers) are maxed out for school expenses that just had to get paid somehow somewhere. Guess what cc interest on 100k+? I'll give u a hint. 100 percent more than what I can afford.

So yes, to posters who wanted to know why it's personal for me, it's because ppl like all of you who are clueless and naive and assume some rich donor always steps in and covers ure gaps. Shocker, they don't. And my husband's white hair is on your conscience.

The audacity, to assume I don't know hardship because Im saying hard truths

Um let's say you have 8 kids in school, and it costs $100,000 to educate all your children (10k for elementary and 15k for high school, and that's on the lower end).

Are you really paying $100k out of your DH's $70,000 salary? I would like to know. Because that was the position we found ourselves in just a few years ago. And no, we were not getting any more breaks than that. And yes, we fundraised from family and we are still paying it off. Please explain how we were supposed to pay that, how are YOU?

↑ kosherkween ↓

Today at 6:43 pm

amother Razzmatazz wrote:

I have. You are choosing to ignore it. Can you answer these two questions:

1 - if a person has to choose between rent and tuition, which one takes priority.

2 - do you understand the significance of survival needs versus life needs?

Like a good jew lete respond by asking g u two questions.

1. Assuming there was no leeway with schools, either u pay up in full or ure out the next day, what wud u choose, rent or a Jewish Education?

2. If ure tuition isnt paid, who is responsible to cover it for you?

Again, I feel for ppl who are struggling. It's why schools have discounts. But not to pay at all? Pay something, drop in 100, 200, 50 something. Ure literally making other ppl pay ure bills

Bonus round: Why am I responsible? Why do schools have to worry how 40-60 percent of budget will get covered EVERY SINGLE MONTH?!

↑ chestnut ↓

Today at 6:44 pm

kosherkween wrote:

What if rent is 60% of ure income, should your landlord understand and give u a discount? If not, how is tuition different?

In all the responses, noone has yet to answer the question of how tuition is different than other real bills, big or small

I'll bite the bullet.
Because roof over one's head, food, utilities, and underwear come first.
Obviously, I'm not talking about families with kids in matching outfits from the current season their parents bought or Pesach/summer/winter vacations while being behind on tuition.

amother

↑ Maple ↓

Today at 6:47 pm

kosherkween wrote:

The difference between tuition and the "real bills" is that when everyone dies of starvation and exposure, they won't attend school or pay tuition.

↑ kosherkween ↓

Today at 6:48 pm

amother Tulip wrote:

I'm working full time, just to cover tuition. My kids don't go to same school as dh works, so no discounts for us.

As a side note, I have aging parents who require a lot of my energy, and we're tearing ourselves into a million pieces just to get through the day to day.

↑ chestnut ↓

Today at 6:48 pm

kosherkween wrote:

Obviously normal ppl would choose rent. Then send to local public school en masse. All of a sudden, all principals, school administrators, teachers, rebbis would end up jobless.
How about answering the Q now - what should come first - rent or tuition?
(I might have missed it, but I highly doubt anyone would be advocating not to pay tuition at all).

amother

↑ Razzmatazz ↓

Today at 6:49 pm

kosherkween wrote:

You ignored my second question. That highlights the disconnect between you and the rest of us.

It's not even a question that I would be rent over tuition. Shelter is a survival need. Survival always takes precedence over other life needs. This is a distinction that you fail to understand.

Secondly, if public school is not an option for our kids, then schools are a communal responsibility. Tzedakah/maaser should be paying the bills of the poorer folks. If tuition has been set in a manner in which the majority can't afford it - then that's the schools/community/lifestyle problem. Fix that, and the problem mostly goes away.

amother

↑ Tulip ↓

Today at 6:50 pm

kosherkween wrote:

You're making $100k NET? Really? Please tell me how!

↑ chestnut ↓

Today at 6:50 pm

kosherkween wrote:

Consider yourself lucky that your husband's salary covers your mortgage, food, utilities, medical, and the rest, so you can afford to spend all your salary on tuition.

amother

↑ Razzmatazz ↓

Today at 6:51 pm

kosherkween wrote:

Bonus round: Why am I responsible? Why do schools have to worry how 40-60 percent of budget will get covered EVERY SINGLE MONTH?!

Simple - tuition should be set in a price range that's affordable for the average family.

That's not doable? Then that the schools/community setup problem. Its definitely not the problem that the poor people need to figure out.

amother

↑ Zinnia ↓

Today at 6:51 pm

chestnut wrote:

Kosherqween. thinks most people are making enough to cover rent & Tuition. Seriously, she also thinks most of has are able to have CC that have a $100,000k max. Seriously, who has that kind of Credit Card lines unless they are making alot of money??

amother

Taupe ↓

Today at 6:55 pm

Schools have lost my pity. They cry poverty, but then do what they want, with no transparency.
We pay full tuition. When I called to complain that my nursery child is last in the morning and first on the way home (making total hours , including transportation , which I pay for, under 5hours!!!) I was told by the transportation manager, “so don’t work!” Ummm…I don’t work for fun last I checked. If you want parents to be able to pay tuition, at least try to accommodate so they can actually work!
And when my preschool child was enrolled in one of these govt funded classes (3k or something, not income eligibility based) I was so excited to finally get a tuition break for the year- nope! They gave $50 reduction/month. With the claim that it’s offsetting future years tuition (they I bh pay full amount for).
Then building fund- we were promised 5 years per family, which we have paid up. Now this year, surprised, there’s a new building fund. When we asked about what happened to the 5 year limit, the reply was that this is a new, different building fund. Really now???
So yeah, no pity from me.

amother

↑ Zinnia ↓

Today at 6:55 pm

chestnut wrote:

Consider yourself lucky that your husband's salary covers your mortgage, food, utilities, medical, and the rest, so you can afford to spend all your salary on tuition.

Oh and her Husband is the one calling all the parents over and over again to ask for Tuition. While he is at it, maybe he can tell them, if they can't pay, there is always Public school or Homeschooling.

amother

↑ Green ↓

Today at 6:56 pm

Another issue is the lack of openness.
Why can't the schools open their books to me the same way they expect me to open our books to them
They're always saying that Chinuch is a two way street, and we're all partners. But really?
Because they go through my budget line by line, telling me everything I should be saving.
"Sell your house with its 2400 mortgage and move to a 2 bedroom basement for 1500"
"Sell one car and manage with just one car".
"Stop the speech therapy".
Oh and also "pay an extra $800 a month for tutoring ".

But they refuse to listen to my ideas. Maybe I know of a better deal for paper towels. Maybe we would rather skip all the teitch sheets and coloring papers and save money.
Maybe we would prefer less cleaning staff.

amother

SandyBrown

Today at 6:57 pm

amother OP wrote:

How much do you care? You aren’t going on vacation to Israel instead of paying tuition. But what does it mean that you care very much? There’s a teacher on the other side who can’t pay the electric bill because you didn’t pay your tuition. Do you prioritize your tuition bill as if it’s YOUR electric that’s about to be shut off?

My electricity was turned off. They turned it back on because it’s the winter. I’m up to date on my rent. Then I pay pick a bill or two to pay this month, because that’s all I can afford. I got my kids clothes through ahavas tzedakah. My kids didn’t go to camp at all. I work 2 jobs. I can’t even dream of a vacation.

↑ kosherkween ↓

Today at 6:58 pm

chestnut wrote:

Of course I understand that food and housing are a must. I'm not an idiot. But what ticks me off is that the tuition bill is viewed as a separate category. If you can pay great, if not, what can I do, my kids need to eat, but you still send the kids to school!!

Tuition is the only service I know about that paying is viewed as totally optional.

Some ppl have such an entitlement attitude towards school staff that they would never have to any other service. Can you not forget that this is a service provided to you (10x more so if school is privately owned, not moisad) and comes at a cost?

Can you not forget that ure cost doesn't just go away because you're ignoring calls from schools number.

Another thing, somehow when the big guns come in (board members) and threaten that tomorrow ure kids are out on the street, or u pay up and in full every month, money is coughed up, someway somehow, a rich uncle, a kind neighbor, a charidy campaign, cc etc..

↑ chestnut ↓

Today at 7:03 pm

amother Taupe wrote:

Wow, this is crazy, each of the examples.

amother

↑ Razzmatazz ↓

Today at 7:08 pm

kosherkween wrote:

Because it IS a separate category:

Survival needs: shelter, food, water.
Other needs: Tuition.

No matter which was you spin it, tuition and shelter are NOT comparable.

We don't have an entitlement attitude. We simply don't have the money. We can't print money, nor can we steal it. We understand there is a cost involved, but we do feel there's a level of communal responsibility involved here. (Never mind that your very school sets your students up for a life of financial struggles. You dont want to accept the consequences of your own actions?)

And that money that we cough up when you come at us with guns blazing - that didn't come from a rich uncle or kind neighbor. It came from a opening a new cc, sinking us further and further into debt, which then creates a longer term problem to pay future tuition. You bury families so deep, that I fear future generations will run if this is their future.

↑ kosherkween ↓

Today at 7:10 pm

In general, if you really show ure struggling to pay and are committed to paying something, even small amounts, the school works it out. Don't know about other places but this school has never ever thrown out child when parents were serious and forthcoming, even when they cudnt pay a few months.

There's huge difference between a person who shows up, answers the phone, comes to the meetings, tries to commit as much as humanly possible, vs ppl who already walk in with chip in their shoulder that you owe them something, keep ignoring calls, have not paid a cent for months and months for 3,4,5 kids and are badmouthing the school for even attempting to collect.

Honestly, how many of you are in the latter category?

amother

↑ Razzmatazz ↓

Today at 7:11 pm

kosherkween wrote:

Very very few.