National Council
of Jewish Women
Greater Detroit Section
NY Jewish Schools
Abuse Education Aid
Will be kicking up
Its heels at a
Washington (JTA) — About
two dozen Jewish schools in
the New York area came
under fire on Capitol Hill
this week, as a congressional
subcommittee investigated
allegations that the schools
abused a federal educational
grant program.
The colleges and yeshivas,
many of them Chasidic,
stand accused of abuses in-
cluding listing people not
enrolled in the schools as
applicants for federal Pell
grants.
In addition to the sub-
committee investigation, the
Education Department
notified the schools last
week that their ongoing par-
ticipation in the Pell grant
program was in question be-
cause of eligibility re-
quirements.
Earlier, the department
levied fines on some of the
schools, which include
yeshivas and colleges with
Judaic studies programs.
Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.,
chairman of the Committee
on Governmental Affairs'
subcommittee on investiga-
tions, convened hearings to
look into the allegations.
The hearings were to be
the first in a series dealing
with allegations of fraud and
abuse in the Pell grant pro-
gram. They were also called
to look into how carefully
the Education Department
oversees the program.
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Nunn announced that a sub-
committee investigation had
made a number of
"disturbing" findings
among the yeshivot in ques-
tion.
The investigation found
that many yeshivot listed
their tuition costs at ar-
tificially high levels so that
students could qualify for
more aid, paid students a
stipend simply to attend
classes and disbursed Pell
grants to unenrolled
students.
Yeshivot were also found
to have paid "brokers" who
provided the schools with
students eligible for aid and
falsified and forged docu-
ments to receive federal fun-
ding.
Mr. Nunn also questioned
whether the federal aid pro-
gram, which is supposed to
help students obtain a
bachelor's degree or specific
vocational training, should
apply to yeshivot, which
admit that they are non-
vocational and focus instead
on religious studies.
The Jewish community
was shaken over the in-
vestigation's focus on Jewish
schools, a concern that the
subcommittee addressed.
There was no singling
out" of any religious group
for this investigation, said
subcommittee member
William Cohen, R- Maine.
"I don't care what the af-
filiation of the institution
is," Mr. Cohen said, adding
that as long as the institu-
tion is receiving federal
money it should be in-
vestigated.
But officials at Jewish re-
ligious-school organizations
expressed concern this week
that Jewish schools were be-
ing targeted.
Bernard Fryshman, the
executive vice president of
the Association of Advanced
Sam Nunn:
In charge of the hearings.
Rabbinical and Talmudic
Schools, said in an interview
that his schools have "not
had any problems at all."
But the allegations
against the approximately
two dozen yeshivot have
"inevitably" had a spillover
effect onto other Jewish
schools, he said, noting that
the issue was "very serious
for us. It hurts innocent peo-
ple."
According to Sen.
Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., the
Pell grant program has
awarded almost $64 billion
in grants since it began more
than 20 years ago.
The subcommittee's in-
vestigation was sup-
plemented by an investiga-
tion by the congressional
General Accounting Office.
Witnesses at the hearing
included Mr. Pell and
Richard Stiener, director of
the GAO's Office of Special
Investigations. El