A twisted three-way tuition transaction

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:38 pm

While we're on the subject of tuition and teachers who are underpaid....Here is my story:

Several years ago, the school I was teaching at fell behind in their payments. First they missed one month, then another and then another. Soon they were five months behind. None of the teachers had been paid for five months.

We were trying to stay afloat on just my husband's Kollel stipend and whatever side jobs we had. But it came to a point where we couldn't pay the rent. Our landlord must have been very strapped for cash, because, if the rent was ever late by even one day, he would call and text and call and text. Yeah, it was all very stressful.

So that month, it was already a few days
late, and we simply had no idea how we were going to pay the rent. Our landlord was sending ever-increasingly urgent messages that the rent must be paid ASAP.

With no other recourse, my husband suggested that I call the principal of the school and explain the situation. Even if they couldn't pay the full amount that they owed me, maybe they would be able to give us partial payment to cover our rent.

So, I called the principal and explained the situation. He heard me out and was very sympathetic, but unfortunatly couldn't help me. Then, I don't remember if he asked me who my landlord was or if I volunteered the information, but suddenly he said, "Your landlord is Chaim Poritz*? He owes us a lot of money in tuition! I have an idea. We can do a 3-way arrangement. We will forgive the balance he owes us, and that money will go towards what we owe you, and that will cancel out what you owe in rent!"

Simply put, I was stunned.
So, basically, I couldn't pay my landlord because I wasn't getting paid from the school, who couldn't pay their teachers because of parents like my landlord who weren't paying their tuition!

So, I'm going to interrupt myself to just add that Mr. Poritz - whose daughter I taught the previous year- moved away that summer to another state. So his daughter was no longer in the school, yet he still had a large balance left over from the previous year.

My principal, who may have partially given up hope on getting that money from Mr. Poritz, suggested that I call him and ask if he would be amenable to a 3-way deal.

Truth be told, I was just a tad bit uncomfortable about making that call. To put it mildly. Firstly, I don't think my principal should have told me that a parent owes the school money. It's really not my business. Also, how am I supposed to tell Mr. Poritz that I know he owes money and suggest that we can make a 3-way deal? And what if he denies it? Or starts yelling at me? I just didn't have the chutzpah to do it. This Mr. Poritz was somewhat of an intimidating type of guy.

But, I gathered my courage and, after muttering a quick kapital of tehillim, made the call.

I said, "Well, Mr Portiz, I know we owe you for this month's rent, and we are already a few days late. But you see, Bais Sara* has been very behind in their payments, and I haven't gotten paid for over 5 months, so-"

I didn’t get any further before he interrupted me, by saying rather excitedly,
"Oh!! You know what? I owe Bais Sara money for tuition! Maybe we can do a 3-way deal!" (And I'm thinking, YES!! Thank you Hashem!)

Let me interject again to say that when Mr. Poritz moved to his new location, he wanted to enroll his daughter in a new school. But our school has a policy that that don't release end-of-year transcripts if the tuition balance had not been paid.

I guess every school has their way of trying to get parents to pay. Our school doesn't send kids home for lack of payment. But they won't release records if the parents owe money.

So the new school that Mr. Poritz was sending his daughter to was asking for the records, and the school would not release them. And this was causing him some trouble. I know this because he told me so.
But apparently, he simply didn't have the money to pay his tuition balance.

But, this idea of a 3-way transaction would finally get him off the hook, wipe his debt clean, he would get his daughter's transcripts, and shalom al Yisroel!

I was just grateful that I didn't have to tell him that I already knew about his debt. I let him think it was his brilliant idea. He said he would call the principal and make the arrangement.

And, as they say, kach hava (So it was).

And here's the best part: The amount that Poritz owed the school was almost the exact amount that the school owed me for 5 months of teaching. Although I never saw that money, it went towards paying my rent for that month and at least another two. (I can't remember exactly.) No money exchanged hands, but three separate parties benefited from this arrangement.

The rest of the teachers did eventually get paid, as far as I know, but many months later. I'm sure my principal was really happy to be able to collect payment from a parent who he likely gave up hope on ever receiving money from, and simultaneously cancel the debt he owed to one of his teachers. I know that it bothered him tremendously when we were not paid on time.

So that's my story.
Paying tuition is a big deal. Paying teachers is a big deal. Paying rent is a big deal.
And sometimes life is just funny when it all comes together like this.

*names changed, well...for obvious reasons.

amother

Melon

Today at 12:17 am

amother OP wrote:

While we're on the subject of tuition and teachers who are underpaid....Here is my story:

Several years ago, the school I was teaching at fell behind in their payments. First they missed one month, then another and then another. Soon they were five months behind. None of the teachers had been paid for five months.

We were trying to stay afloat on just my husband's Kollel stipend and whatever side jobs we had. But it came to a point where we couldn't pay the rent. Our landlord must have been very strapped for cash, because, if the rent was ever late by even one day, he would call and text and call and text. Yeah, it was all very stressful.

So that month, it was already a few days
late, and we simply had no idea how we were going to pay the rent. Our landlord was sending ever-increasing urgent messages that the rent must be paid ASAP.

With no other recourse, my husband suggested that I call the principal of the school and explain the situation. Even if they couldn't pay the full amount that they owed me, maybe they would be able to give us partial payment to cover our rent.

So, I called the principal and explained the situation. He heard me out and was very sympathetic, but unfortunatly couldn't help me. Then, I don't remember if he asked me who my landlord was or if I volunteered the information, but suddenly he said, "Your landlord is Chaim Poritz*? He owes us a lot of money in tuition! I have an idea. We can do a 3-way arrangement. We will forgive the balance he owes us, and that money will go towards what we owe you, and that will cancel out what you owe in rent!"

Simply put, I was stunned.
So, basically, I couldn't pay my landlord because I wasn't getting paid from the school, who couldn't pay their teachers because of parents like my landlord who weren't paying their tuition!

So, I'm going to interrupt myself to just add that Mr. Poritz - whose daughter I taught the previous year- moved away that summer to another state. So his daughter was no longer in the school, yet he still had a large balance left over from the previous year.

My principal, who may have partially given up hope on getting that money from Mr. Poritz, suggested that I call him and ask if he would be amenable to a 3-way deal.

Truth be told, I was just a tad bit uncomfortable about making that call. To put it mildly. Firstly, I don't think my principal should have told me that a parent owes the school money. It's really not my business. Also, how am I supposed to tell Mr. Poritz that I know he owes money and that we can make a 3-way deal? And what if he denies it? Or starts yelling at me? I just didn't have the chutzpah to do it. This Mr. Poritz was somewhat of an intimidating type of guy.

But, I gathered my courage and, after muttering a quick kapital of tehillim, made the call.

I said, "Well, Mr Portiz, I know we owe you for this month's rent, and we are already a few days late. But you see, Bais Sara* has been very behind in their payments, and I haven't gotten paid for over 5 months, so-"

I didn’t get any further before he interrupted me, by saying rather excitedly,
"Oh!! You know what? I owe Bais Sara money for tuition! Maybe we can do a 3-way deal!" (And I'm thinking, YES!! Thank you Hashem!)

Let me interject again to say that when Mr. Poritz moved to his new location, he wanted to enroll his daughter in a new school. But our school has a policy that that don't release end-of-year transcripts if the tuition balance had not been paid.

I guess every school has their way of trying to get parents to pay. Our school doesn't send kids home for lack of payment. But they won't release records if the parents owe money.

So the new school that Mr. Poritz was sending his daughter to was asking for the records, and the school would not release them. And this was causing him some trouble. I know this because he told me so.
But apparently, he simply didn't have the money to pay his tuition balance.

But, this idea of a 3-way transaction would finally get him off the hook, wipe his debt clean, he would get his daughter's transcripts, and shalom al Yisroel!

I was just grateful that I didn't have to tell him that I already knew about his debt. I let him think it was his brilliant idea. He said he would call the principal and make the arrangement.

And, as they say, kach hava (So it was).

And here's the best part: The amount that Poritz owed the school was almost the exact amount that the school owed me for 5 months of teaching. Although I never saw that money, it went towards paying my rent for that month and at least another two. (I can't remember exactly.) No money exchanged hands, but three separate parties benefited from this arrangement.

The rest of the teachers did eventually get paid, as far as I know, but many months later. I'm sure my principal was really happy to be able to collect payment from a parent who he likely gave up hope on ever receiving money from, and simultaneously cancel the debt he owed to one of his teachers. I know that it bothered him tremendously when we were not paid on time.

So that's my story.
Paying tuition is a big deal. Paying teachers is a big deal. Paying rent is a big deal.
And sometimes life is just funny when it all comes together like this.

*names changed, well...for obvious reasons.

Wow. Ty for sharing this amazing story. So beautiful to see how Hashem orchestrated it without you being in the uncomfortable position.