Refreshing

Excuse me for beating this subject to death, but I just received my tuition schedule for next year. . .

"Always raise tuition. Parents must know what to expect in the future. They will always find a way to pay."

Honestly Frum has posted a sicha on the parsha from Rav Ozer Glickman, YU Rosh Yeshiva, which is quite refreshing, not particularly because there are tangible solutions we can implement tomorrow offered, but because he has acknowledged certain realities that I haven't seen acknowledged elsewhere.

One acknowledgement he made is that "[t]here cannot be money for everything." While such a statement should be self-evident, our communities as a whole have been operating with an assumption that there is always more money out there available for the taking and it is just a matter of cornering that money. I can't think of a community/metro area I have either lived in, or spent considerable time in, that has not grown its infrastructure in recent years. Perhaps it is a new school. Perhaps it is new programming or staffed positions within existing schools. Perhaps it is a new shul or a newly renovated shul. Perhaps it is a new mikvah. Perhaps it is a new kollel or kiruv staff. When I look around I see a growing infrastructure and a shrinking base of available funds. Furthermore, the Rabbi states re: scholarships, "And if every Jewish family deserving of help asked for tuition relief, the yeshivot would not have the resources to respond."

Another acknowledgement he made is something I have not heard stated too loudly: "[There are voices in the Orthodox community that eloquently and intelligently raise these issues. Some appeal to the rabbis to fix this problem]. Rabbis sadly usually don't know much about finance and economics." This statement should give parents who are waiting for someone else to do something some pause.

I found it very comforting that Rav Glickman, while addressing the need for Rabbonim to stress tzniut in regards to displays of wealth, did not come down hard on parents as a whole. He states, "The answer is not belt-tightening in the Jewish home. Many families have already cut way back, eliminating any luxury whatsoever. One just has to sit down with young families with elementary school commitments and listen." Granted, there is plenty of belt-tightening left in many a household, but as a frugal, coupon cutting, home cooking, thrift store shopping, thermostat adjusting mom who has only spent $5 for a single manicure in her lifetime, I can appreciate this.

When it comes to solutions, the Rav acknowledges that there may be some areas for belt-tightening. He does make mention of small class size. His bigger recommendation is that shuls constrain their budgets. My readers are welcome to comment on this idea further. I don't think spending on shul programming where I am is beyond the pale, nor do I believe that lessening the spending by a large chunk would make much of a difference vis a vis tuition. Perhaps some different decisions could have been made in the past, but a more expensive mortgage than perhaps minimally necessary isn't what is driving up school tuitions into the stratosphere.