High school tuition help still available

Nearly 250 middle-income families considering a Jewish high school education for their teens have applied for tuition help from Builders of Jewish Education (BJE), and the application period is still open for the 2010-2011 school year. BJE is administering a $12.7 million grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation that aims to enable more students to afford an education at five Jewish high schools in Los Angeles.

$7.5 million of the Jim Joseph High School Affordability Initiative, a six-year grant now in its second year, is going toward scholarships, and the schools are using the remaining $5.2 million to shore up their own development and fundraising programs, in order to meet the grant’s stipulation that they collectively raise millions toward their own endowments.

More than 70 students received $594,000 in grants last year to attend Milken Community High School, New Community Jewish High School, Shalhevet School, and the YULA boys and girls high schools. With more publicity this year, coordinators are expecting to give out $895,000. The Web site has received more than 2,000 hits.

The money is aimed at families who are middle income, taking home healthy six-figure salaries but still struggling to pay the $25,000 to $30,000 in tuition. Parents who need more than 40 percent of tuition covered are channeled to the schools’ regular scholarship fund. The grant requires schools to maintain the regular scholarship fund separate from the Jim Joseph money.

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