 |
| An Orthodox Jewish couple walking in the streets of Lakewood (TOI) |
When I got married and raised four children on what was then considered a middle-income salary, I never felt the kind of crushing financial pressure Orthodox families face now. We managed to buy a home, replace our car every few years, take modest family vacations, and cover the usual expenses — mortgage, utilities, insurance, and healthcare.
At the same time, we also handled the added costs that come with Orthodox Jewish life: Jewish education for four children, including a gap year in Israel, kosher food, Yom Tov expenses, and lifecycle events like bar mitzvahs and weddings. We even managed to save for retirement, which - together with Social Security and Medicare - allows us to maintain a relatively comfortable standard of living today.
Now, however, even families earning well into six figures are struggling. A recent article in The Times of Israel described a religious New Jersey couple earning over $150,000 a year who still “can’t make it work.” The article noted that even families making $400,000 can feel financial strain.
What happened?
The biggest reason is obvious: tuition. When my children were young, day school tuition was relatively affordable. When our children started it was under $1,000 per child, eventually rising to about $5,000 by the end of elementary school. Today, tuition in many Orthodox schools can reach $25,000 per child per year.
For a family with four children, that can mean $100,000 annually before taxes. Add kosher food, housing, insurance, and every other normal family expense, and it becomes easy to see why even a $150,000 income is not enough.
Why did tuition rise so dramatically? Mostly because schools had no choice.
Modern religious schools provide far more services than they once did, but the biggest expense is teacher salaries. In my day, many teachers earned very little and supplemented their income with summer jobs or afternoon work. Eventually schools realized that if they wanted qualified educators, they had to offer livable salaries. That significantly increased school budgets, which in turn drove up tuition exponentially.
Schools also build tuition assistance into their budgets because most middle-class families now require help. Even after a $10,000 scholarship, parents will owe $15,000 per child. For four children, that’s still $60,000 a year in pre-tax income. And many families have more than four children.
Meanwhile, all the other costs of Orthodox life remain — especially housing in religious neighborhoods, which has become increasingly unaffordable. Well beyond the means of most young couples.
This creates an almost impossible situation...
To continue reading - and/or to comment on this post - click on this link: substack. You must subscribe to receive new posts. It's easy and it's free.
