Source: The Jewish Exponent
The Perelman Jewish Day School of Philadelphia, in an effort to increase enrollment by lessening the financial burden on parents, announced a $6,000 tuition reduction for all kindergarten students entering in fall 2009. The pilot program, under the auspices of the newly formed Kohelet Foundation, will offer a total of $27,000 in tuition assistance per pupil for this incoming class up till grade five. The initiative is an attempt to outreach to Jewish families to bring them to enroll their child in a Jewish day school.
The initiative is the brainchild of 40-year-old David Magerman, a venture capitalist who is a Perelman board member and has two children attending the school. Magerman said he has committed up to $1.5 million for the first batch of Perelman students and may give up to $15 million in all to day schools throughout the region if the grant system proves effective in markedly increasing day school enrollment.
The Kohelet foundation will conduct regular audits of the Perelman Conservative Day School and if the aid initiative proves successful it will be extended to the next two cohorts of students.
Similar programs in Jewish day schools in other areas of the U.S.A. have been attempted but haven't been studied closely enough to measure the extent of their success.