By Alexa Fishman

Shalhevet has decided not to counter the merit scholarships that YULA Boys High School is offering to selected incoming freshmen next year.

According to School President Larry Gill, the scholarships would take away money allocated to financial aid.

“The biggest predictor of whether people will remain Jewish is attending a Jewish school, so we are trying to pull resources in the community to help as many people attend school as possible,” said Mr. Gill.  “You’re not supposed to give the limited resources to people who don’t need them.”
Mr. Gill said Shalhevet’s board considered the issue when they learned that an applicant had been offered a scholarship from YULA Boys without applying for financial aid.
After some discussion, the Board voted unanimously Feb. 5 not to match the grants, he said.
Both YULA and Valley Torah, Orthodox High Schools that draw from the same communities as Shalhevet, apparently are using merit scholarships, in some cases full scholarships to help recruit top students from wealthier families.
Officials of the BJE – formerly the Bureau of Jewish Education and now called ‘Builders of Jewish Education’- said such scholarships are allowed under BJE rules. The BJE accredits LA-area Jewish schools.
According to Miriam Pruss Hess, BJE’s Director of the Center for Excellence in Day School Education and parent of Shalhevet freshman Ezra Hess, the merit scholarships are coming from another source and do not use money set aside for financial aid.
“I see absolutely nothing wrong with the scholarships,” said Ms. Hess. “The scholarships are absolutely not against regulations, and I know of many other schools in this community who have used them.”
But Mr. Gill said on a community-wide basis, that’s impossible.
“People are expected to pay for their children and then to help other people’s children too,” said Mr. Gill.  “You’re not supposed to give our very limited resources to people who don’t need them.”
Shalhevet Admissions Director Natalie Weiss confirmed that Shalhevet lost a few students to the strategy, but she declined to say how many.
“Enrollment has still increased, and we are still turning some students away,” Ms. Weiss said.
Officials of YULA Boys School would not comment except to reiterate their school’s policy on need-based assistance.
“We understand that the steep cost of yeshiva tuition is a growing issue for Modern Orthodox families across the US,” said an e-mail from the YULA Boys Admissions Team to the Boiling Point.
“When it comes to prospective and current YULA families, we try to alleviate that pressure by working with individual families to best accommodate their needs, while at the same time promoting the overall values of our school.”
YULA Girls High School, whose admissions department is separate from that of the boys’ school, does not offer merit scholarships. According to YULA Girls Admissions Director Alison Snyder, merit scholarships would take away money for financial aid.
“We only have a certain amount of pool that we can hand out in need- and merit-based scholarship, and for us, both would come out of the same scholarship fund,” said Mrs. Snyder, who is actually an alumna of Shalhevet, class of 2006.
Shalhevet Board members said they do not believe they need to offer scholarships to compete.  They also don’t think that eighth graders are accomplished enough to receive tuition breaks based on merit.
“Merit scholarships are excellent for college students, but at the age of 13 or 14 for students coming into high school, I am not for it,” said Board Member Alex Miller.  “I want the money to go to families who have a real struggle.”
Mr. Gill also believes that offering an eighth grader