Supporting Educators and Education
To help Jewish day schools thrive, the Hebrew Free Loan Society (HFLS) provides loans to assist teachers with housing costs. In addition, tuition bridge loans are available for families with special-needs children in day school special education programs who are entitled to Department of Education tuition reimbursement. HFLS has:
- Made 211 loans, totaling almost $2 million, since 1999 to help families with severely learning-disabled children pay for day school tuition;
- Made 33 loans and given out more than $545,000 to day school teachers to help them buy their first home.
The five-year mark is often a time when teachers leave the profession - either from burnout or the need for a higher income to support their families.
Adam taught for five years at the modern Orthodox Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaways. He and his wife Shira had two small children and had outgrown their rental apartment. But they struggled on his teacher’s salary to save for a down payment. They were able to take advantage of HFLS's Day School Teachers Housing Loan Program. They found a three-bedroom house in the same neighborhood where they rented. HLFS provided a $20,000 ten-year, interest-free loan, which paid for a significant portion of the down payment and closing costs.
As a result, the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaways held on to an experienced teacher with rabbinical ordination and a master's degree in education from Yeshiva University. If Adam were to leave full-time day school teaching he would have to pay any outstanding balance of the loan.