As a result of a 2008 downturn in donations, the Jewish Tuition Organization, which provides scholarship assistance for students at the Valley's seven Jewish day schools, is providing less aid money in 2009 than in 2008, while recipient families are more financially squeezed by the recession.
"We have about the same number of requests (for aid as last year)," Linda Zell, the JTO's executive director, told Jewish News, "but the families' income levels are definitely down, whether because of unemployment, furloughs or salary reductions."
The JTO received 505 requests for tuition aid for the upcoming school year, and about 420 qualified for scholarships under JTO's guidelines, Zell said.
The Valley's Jewish day schools serve about 750 students.
"We've had some requests from families who have always paid full tuition and now fall into our lowest income category," Zell said. "It's so sad."
Compounding the situation is that tuitions are up from last year, Zell said. The Valley's Jewish day schools' annual tuitions range from $7,000 to $12,000 for kindergarten through eighth grade and are roughly $15,000 for high schools, she said.
The increases in tuition range from about $100 for new students at Barness Family JCC Day School to $1,000 at Jess Schwartz College Prep.
Donations to the JTO fell from more than $2 million collected in 2007 to fund 2008-2009 scholarships, to about $1.8 million collected in 2008 for 2009-2010 scholarships, Zell said.
Those who receive the scholarship grants are "seeing less money, no matter what category they fall into," she said. The JTO bases the amount of the award on an individual family's income level, she said. "We kept the income levels the same, but the awards have been reduced," she said.
For instance, the top award level for elementary tuition for the 2008-2009 school year was $7,000, but the corresponding award for the 2009-2010 school year is $5,775, Zell said. The top award toward high school tuitions will be $7,854, she said.
Recipients have until May 31 to appeal or accept their scholarship awards, so the impact on the day schools won't be known for certain till June.
"I think the schools are going to lose students," Zell said, because they will be unable to pay the difference between the scholarship amounts and the actual tuition.
"The schools may have more money (for internal scholarships)," Zell said. "They are going to have to supplement what we're giving."
"(The JTO situation) means that there has been a greater burden placed on the day schools to find the difference in monies if a family can't afford the tuition," said Jill Kessler, head of school at Pardes Jewish Day School in Phoenix.
Now that the JTO award letters are out, the school can consider requests for internal scholarships and get a clearer picture of the need and how to fund it, Kessler said. The K-8 school already has an amount budgeted for internal scholarships, but if requests exceed that amount, the school will have to find the money elsewhere, she said.
"While I have not up until now cut any staff, if I need the additional scholarship dollars, that's a possibility," Kessler said. In this economy, she said, "you can't rely on fundraising; you have to work with dollars that you know you have in hand."
At Jess Schwartz College Prep, which recently announced staff cuts for the 2009-2010 school year, tuition rose from $14,500 for 2008-2009 to $15,500 for 2009-2010, and the story as far as scholarship aid is similar.
"We create a budget that provides additional financial assistance (to the STO money)," Janice Johnson, head of school at JSCP, wrote in an e-mail. "However, no family receives a 100 percent scholarship; everyone pays something, dependent upon their family finances."
At present, she said that all students who could return next year have re-enrolled, but she added that since the JTO funds were just awarded, "I am in the process of working with our families who need additional financial assistance. I won't know of any attrition until June."
Rabbi Raphael Landesman, dean of Shearim Torah High School for Girls in Phoenix, said that requests for aid are up among his small student body as well, but that the school will find a way to help all students who need it.
"We have to," he said. "We're committed to giving everybody a Jewish education, so we'll work with the families. They'll give what they can and we have to help with the rest."
At Barness Family JCC Day School in Chandler, tuition will not go up for returning students, but incoming families will see a $100 increase from last year's rate, said Emily Zappa, the school's director.
"What I've noticed is that families that don't normally need to apply (for aid) are needing to apply," Zappa said.
The JTO funds, she said, are the primary source of aid, but the school will refer families to the Arizona School Choice Trust, which is a student tuition organization like the JTO, but secular.
With enrollment at 32 students for next year, the school is able to keep close track on families' needs, she said.
"If they're on scholarships, we can ask families to come in and do some volunteer time in exchange," she said.
In addition to Pardes, JSCP, Shearim Torah and the Barness school, the JTO funds scholarships for K-8 King David School in Scottsdale and Phoenix Hebrew Academy. It also aids Shalom Montessori in Scottsdale.
