Lakewood’s private school system is facing a mounting financial crisis as the new academic year begins, with multiple schools unable to open their doors and many others warning they are on the brink of collapse. The central issue, administrators say, is a sharp shortfall in tuition payments from parents.
Bnos Penina has informed parents that it cannot open for the school year. In a message, school leaders said that despite their utmost efforts, the administration had been unable to pay teachers or cover overdue rent. The school said it would remain closed until the crisis is resolved.
Similarly, Tiferes Chaya notified parents that the school would not open for the foreseeable future. In its statement, the school cited unpaid salaries from the prior year and outstanding tuition balances that left the administration without funds to cover staff pay or basic operational costs.
The financial woes are not isolated. Lakewood Alerts has learned that numerous other schools are under severe financial strain. In one case, a school dean was forced to take out a second mortgage on his personal home to secure enough funds to keep his institution running this year. Other schools are employing similar desperate measures.
Administrators say the heart of the crisis lies in widespread non-payment of tuition. For some families, the issue is financial hardship. For others, there is an expectation that private school education is a right, not a service tied to payment. That tension has left schools caught between ballooning expenses and shrinking revenue.
With teacher salaries, rent, and operational costs going unpaid, educators and administrators warn that the situation is unsustainable.
The tuition crisis that exists will only get worse. Our young people are not being trained towards a parnassah. Where is the money supposed to come from..
What about the parents who paid tuition and sweated and worked hard to make the payments. What do you say to them. HAVE A NICE DAY.
I agree! Why punish parents that made it their first priority to pay up their tuition dues, although they cant afford the astronomical fees. They squeeze out every penny to pay and now they are being penalized.
So why did the gvirim in Lakewood give 100+ million
to kollel yingeliet while ignoring the children of Lakewood
Education for children is more important than education for adults
This happens when Rabbis encouraged Thousands of boys to sit and learn and go to backyard BBQ’s and daily Kumzitz’s instead of gaining the skills necessary to support a family. Instead of becoming electricians, building contractors, doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, dentists, farmers, chemists, mechanics, engineers- thousands of boys were told to sit for years and read Gemara all day and party at BBQ’s by night, dance at fundraisers for rich wealthy donors to flash their wealth, and create a class of poor families who go into debt just to buy the thousand dollar Sheitels and Crazy expensive clothes and shoes and mansions that frum influencer women who preach modesty and frumkeit lessons convince young girls they need. Then the boys all compete to marry the few daughters of “rich gvirs”, while leaving thousands unmarried girls. Then these same rabbis think these young marries yeshiva boys can afford tuition!! Time to home school your kids and get your sons a career to afford to marry and support a family which is the actual Torah way..
vouchers would be great..Texas and Florida have them
Vouchers from who? The state? These “schools” don’t deserve a dime! They aren’t producing productive members of society, it’s a joke. And they keep stealing money from public schools which actually produce productive members of society! The fact that you think your community deserves any funding shows your complete ignorance.
Why do parents who sweat blood and tears to come up with the tuition, Why are they made to suffer?
Stop vacationing and start paying tuition
Neither is the large tuition increases. Most people are not getting large enough yearly raises to increase their tuition by more than 2-3% a year.
I strnogly disagree with what Esty wrote. I got married approximately 35 years ago, and the Rabbeim then encouraged the young men to learn too. But we lived here in Lakewood carefully, b’tzimzum. We paid our bills, our tuitions, our playgroups. Sometimes we paid late, but we paid, and kept paying until we were all paid up. The fanciness is coming from somewhere else – not the Rabbeim, who are encouraging learning. High housing prices are not the fault of the Rabbeim either. It’s all the individuals, who are upping the standards, the consumers, the store owners – If they don’t give in the pressure, to make a fancier store with fancier decor and merchandise, they won’t get customers?! I don’t know what we can do to stop these materialistic trends, but don’t blame the yeshivas and Rabbeim.
A responsible parent should look at financial responsibility before having so many children. My parents sent us to a private school paid tuition, books and after school activities, they shared one car and we ate like poor people, but my parents thought it was worth the suffering to get us a better than public school education.
Wow all the Torah bashers coming out of there holes.
This has nothing to do with people learning.
It has to do with lazy administrators who just want parents to pay for everything and not go out and collect as was always the case in Klall Yisroel
The yungerliet pay much tuition on time!!! (Fact).
It’s on top of there expense list
Stop bashing Torah learning.
It’s other things here like geverim driving Teslas and not paying enough tuition.
The truth of the matter it’s both, my parents paid yedhiva tuition for 5 kids no breaks always on time
We lived in an apartment not a house.
Today the kids get married expecting mommy and daddy to support them but mommy and daddy no longer have the means if you want to live like a shtetl that you spend like in your in the shtetl a kids Shabbat outfit does not have to cost 300.00 wake up
When they go out and collect ,the door is shut in their faces. Especially for girls schools. That’s the way it’s become.
If you want your children to have a private religious education that it is the responsibility of the parents to pay for it. It should never be the burden of taxpayers. Perhaps not having a dozen children would help the household finances. Also there are many “fathers” not employed as they are so called religious scholars. Send your kids to public school or pay your tuition your choice.
so far you still have over 200 girls waiting around with no school and noone says a word