One of the biggest line items in any frum family’s budget is yeshiva tuition. The cost of a yeshiva education has continued to rise, becoming a financial burden for many families. For years, Rabbinic and lay leadership have struggled to figure out how to make tuition more affordable. Certain communities have made some progress, while many others are perpetuating the ever-rising costs.
Below I offer my own suggestion on how to tackle this issue to relieve the financial strain on many Jewish families across the country. It focuses on a multi-pronged approach where various parties, including the yeshivos, families, and the frum community at large will need to make sacrifices to collectively address this issue.
The Responsibility of Yeshivos
Semi Annual Expense Review: It costs a great deal of money to run a yeshiva. Teachers, administrators, security, and countless other professionals need to be paid so the students receive the best possible educational experience. However, as with a family budget, it’s important to have semi-annual reviews of all expenses to ensure money is not being spent on unnecessary purchases or services. These may be subscriptions, vendors, or service providers that are not necessary. It may also reveal inefficiencies, duplicate costs for similar services, and other expenses that are redundant.
In addition to revealing wasteful spending, a regular review process will also empower the school with the information to go to the market and find the most cost-effective services. Keeping an eye on expenses alone can save tens of thousands of dollars a month. Ideally, this can be done by an independent accountant not employed by the school to offer objective advice.
Rely more heavily on technology: There are yeshivos around the country who have been relying more on technology as a more cost-effective way to run our schools and educate our children. While I am not an educator, I can speak from personal experience as a business owner that technology can be used in lieu of hiring more personnel. Technology has streamlined my work, allowing me to work more effectively without all the overheard that was necessary years ago. This is true of the many service providers and venders with whom I partner, and it is certainly true with the educational system as well. It’s essential for yeshivos to embrace and harness the power of technology.
Introduce no frills competition: Many of our yeshivos’ offerings to students include athletics, after school clubs, assemblies, celebrations, and other festivities throughout the school year. To be clear, I think all these extra curriculars are a good thing and I’m happy to pay premium dollars for these wonderful opportunities/experiences. They are fun and engaging for children, and certainly some of the most memorable experiences for students as they get older. However, all this additional programming has additional costs. There should be a “no frills” alternative yeshiva option where these programs are either eliminated or offered exclusively by volunteers at no additional costs. I understand this is a big sacrifice, but there are countless families who would benefit from a significant tuition reduction and more financial breathing room. I think there is a market for both types of yeshivos, those with all the bells and whistles and those that offer a great education while leaving extra curriculars to be organized more informally outside of school hours.
Competition and different yeshiva models will promote innovation, better experience for our children, and price pressure on the most expensive schools.
The Responsibility of Families
Prioritize your spending: We spend money on things that are important to us. Unfortunately, we are all guilty, to some extent, of spending money on items that should not be high on our priority list. This may include luxury cars, streaming services, vacations, eating out, designer clothes, and a large home in an expensive part of the country. All these things are nice, but should they rank higher on your list of priorities than ensuring your children receive a proper Jewish education?
I assume that for many people reading this a yeshiva education ranks at the top of your list. Therefore, other items must be sacrificed. When you recognize what your priorities are, it makes it easier to direct your cash flow to these areas, like paying your tuition bill in full, and eliminating spending on others.
The Responsibility of the Community
A Jewish education is considered a fundamental pillar of Jewish communal life and, therefore, is a community responsibility. This may sound like an old-world custom, but this type of responsibility is still relevant today. A community can address the responsibility of alleviating the yeshiva tuition crisis in several ways.
Annual tzedakah commitment: One approach is to have every community member commit to contributing to the local school(s) on an ongoing basis. As with tuition payment plans, yeshivos can automatically charge credit cards or debit bank accounts at agreed upon intervals for those who want a seamless implementation. Whether it’s $25, $100, $1000, or more, every dollar matters. When a community acts together, these dollars in aggregate can be immensely helpful to the local yeshivos. Even retirees whose children graduated from yeshiva decades earlier still have an obligation to give tzedaka. I can think of no better use of one’s philanthropic dollars than to support the local yeshivos and perpetuate the study of Torah for future generations.
Bequeathing money: In addition to giving regularly from your tzedaka dollars, individuals can also agree to leave a bequest in their will to the local yeshivos or include them as beneficiaries on their IRA account. Leaving only 10% of your wealth to benefit these local schools can go a long way in relieving the financial pressure on frum families. Additionally, imagine the powerful message that you are leaving to your own children who will see your commitment to enabling Torah learning for future generations. A commitment to bequeathing funds will be a game changer for yeshivos across the country.
Volunteering: Donating or bequeathing money is not the only way to help the local yeshivos. You can also volunteer your time. Volunteers can save the yeshiva from needing to pay additional salaries, helping to make a Jewish education even more affordable. There are numerous ways for someone to volunteer depending on their background and interest. The act of volunteering should be especially appealing to folks in retirement. Keep in mind, doing the daf, a daily chavrusa, cruising, and visiting your grandkids are all worthwhile endeavors. However, none of these things are full time pursuits. Filling your days with a few hours of volunteer work can be immensely rewarding and beneficial to both your mental and physical health.
Signing “The Yeshiva Pledge”
Some of these solutions have been discussed before. They are all sensible approaches and, when executed in tandem, can have a meaningfully positive impact on the tuition crisis.
The real challenge lies in the implementation of these solutions. How do you motivate an entire community to make changes to their personal spending and philanthropy? How do you get the yeshivos to make significant adjustments to their own finances? Perhaps it should start by getting the community leaders, religious and lay, to sign a document similar to The Giving Pledge, where they agree to work on implementing these changes.
For those who are unfamiliar, The Giving Pledge is a commitment made by some of the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes, either during their lifetime or through their will. It was founded in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett to encourage philanthropy on a large scale. Since its inception, more than 250 billionaires from around 30 countries have taken the pledge, promising to use their wealth to address global challenges such as poverty, education, healthcare, and scientific research. That is quite the impact! A similar initiative, The Jewish Future Promise, encourages individuals to commit to allocating at least 50% of charitable contributions made upon passing to Jewish causes. Both initiatives highlight people of influence who have signed the pledge as a way to encourage broader adoption of their mission.
The frum community can start “The Yeshiva Pledge,” with the potential for a great impact. Our insular communities are so susceptible to peer pressure. Often it causes so many people in our communities to make imprudent financial decisions, but if harnessed properly it can also be used to motivate positive behaviors and solve complex problems.
The solution to the yeshiva tuition crisis is a math problem. It involves cutting costs and increasing revenue from sources beyond continuously raising tuition. However, it’s certainly not easy to implement. Perhaps instituting and signing “The Yeshiva Pledge,” which encompasses the above principles (and possibly others), can help motivate frum communities around the country to take the proper steps to make a yeshiva education affordable for every family.
