Dullradiance,

The kehilla idea has merit and may be the ultimate future for many communities. One of my accountant friends has been singing this song for twenty years. He also has done extensive research and knows of the tremendous tax benefits of this model.

What concerns me is that its

1. difficult to enforce

3. Most communities don’t have a central body of Rabbonim, often communities are divided over what is considered worthy of this communal support

its a good idea though; keep ‘um coming.

Squeak,

I’ll reiterate,”By inherent nature of the CR, i know nothing about you. i think we can agree that we’ve made assumption on behalf of the other, some accurate some not-so-accurate. I can address the points you mentioned but it would simply cause this topic to snowball into a technical discussion of collateralize debt obligations.”

he’s a quick snapshot of part of my resume.

i started working in the RMBS world in 2006, the housing bubble was alive and well. my teams main client was Bear Stearns and JP Morgan. (i later worked on many Homebanc, Wells Fargo and Greenpoint deals as well). i had a front row seat at the rise and fall of the market.Talking to investors who were crying on the phone and watching the cash flows ,or lack there of, deteriorate earns me a little understanding of the severity of this topic. needless to say i had tons of business contacts at Bear Stearns who were let go.it was a difficult time for many and i had box seats…

In 2010, I had numerous lengthy conversation with a board member of the FCIC (Financial Crisis Inquire Commission http://fcic.law.stanford.edu/) during their interview/research phase, we spent many hours discussing structured finance, he found my insights and knowledge helpful and useful during the interrogation of CEO’s and board members from the across the financial sector.

Again, lets disregard the securitization idea and focus on other ideas. I agree that no one would buy this bond, and i hope no one would be so crazy to ever create such a deal.I also agree the default rate would be close to 100%

lets get back to tuition’s.

is the current tuition model broken? yes/no

is the current tuition model sustainable? yes/no

do you have any ideas suggestions to improve the frum economy? Fixed fee tuition that everyone must pay? shared sacrifice?etc…

Squeak,

three points:

1. running is rarely a good solution

2. my life and career are elsewhere

3. Lakewood has its own challenges

Squeak,

You are right, that idea is crazy. No-one would buy it.

“Just pay your tuition and be done with it” is the ultimate goal. Except some people don’t pay; i wish we could see the data. With open books this crisis can be solved.

The Lakewood model (from what i understand) seems to be fair; everyone pays for their kids.

I don’t know of any statistics done on frum families finances but if anyone has access to this knowledge please share the wealth.

I know this is not a scientific case study and the population sample shows bias, but I fear that the tuition crisis stems from similar stories across the frum spectrum (i.e. in some yeshivas the figure is 2%, 15%, 50 %,).

Maybe I’m naive, but I wonder if we had 100%, would we still have a tuition crisis?

all thoughts are welcome.

Besalel,

I appreciate your response and ideas. While I disagree with your idea of making tuition a “shared sacrifice”, I enjoy having an honest discussion with people, like yourself, who understand that this is a major issue in klal yisroel.

Out of curiosity, why do you choose to abandon the current model (that everyone should be responsible for their own kids/bills)?

I think everyone understands that being frum, while being a huge bracha, is a very expensive lifestyle (i.e. yomim tovim, tuition, living in established communities, larger families, simchas).

Maybe we should be pushing for more advanced degrees and stronger credentials? Maybe we should be pushing for smarter financial planning?

happyOOTer,

I disagree that govt. assistance will correct our tuition crisis; if anything it will cause more issues. (For empirical evidence, has any government program ever shrunken over time?

I am absolutely confident that Klal Yisroel can fix our tuition crisis, but raising tuitions and lobbying for govt assistance is not the way.

besalel,

i’ve often wondered where the tuition figures come from? i assume that its simply; cost/#of students=tuition. fundraising covers shortfall and helps fund future needs (i.e. building/endowments).

honestly i am new to this game, but do the schools give out financials? i’d be interested in seeing any schools budgets? until we see the “total cost of a school” this is all theoretical.

lets work backwards for a second: if a class has 20 boys, each paying 7k that equals 140k. lets subtract 50k for the rebbi’s salary and 30k for the english teacher, we’re left with 60k to cover admin/building/misc. this seems reasonable to me.

with that said tuition shouldn’t be above 7k?

now you may say that not everyone can afford 7k per kid (which is totally understandable if you have a large famiy) thats where the fundraising kicks in to cover the shortfall.

the issue i have is with the cost shifting. i have no problem budgeting for a reasonable tuition, its the additional 3-4k of cost shifting funds that bother me.