30 | FEBRUARY 23 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
F
arber Hebrew Day School is
offering a tuition incentive
program to help make relocation
easier for families considering a move to
Detroit.
The purpose of the Farber
Recruitment Incentive Program is
to incentivize families from outside
of the Detroit area with prospective
Farber students to relocate their homes
to Metropolitan Detroit and enroll
their eligible children in Farber. The
program is intended to attract mission-
appropriate families who, absent
unforeseen or special circumstances,
would make Michigan their long-term
home and would have all their eligible
children enrolled at Farber.
For the first academic year in which
a member of the family is enrolled at
Farber, there’s a 75% tuition discount
for each eligible student. For the second
academic year in which a member of
the family is enrolled at Farber, there’s
a 25% tuition discount for each eligible
student.
“We recognize that our lifeblood is in
our students and families staying here
and also coming to the area, and that
it’s crucial for the Modern Orthodox
community to continue to have a steady
influx of families coming to the area,”
said Farber’s Head of School Dr. Josh
Levisohn.
Recognizing the cost of living in
places such as the Northeast are
exceedingly high, that many young
families don’t believe they can make a
decent living or have a decent quality
of life in those places and are looking
for other options, Farber would like to
attract them to Detroit. There are many
components to that, but one of them is
to help with transition costs, which can
be daunting.
“By providing a tuition incentive from
us, that can help reduce those initial
costs,” Levisohn said. “And especially for
parents already paying tuition, to sort
of provide a nice cushion for them as
they come to the area. It’s one part of a
broader plan to help attract families to
the area.”
Different versions of this program
have been done in the past, but this
particular program is effective as of
the 2023-2024 school year. Farber is
launching the effort with the support of
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit and in partnership with Young
Israel of Southfield, Young Israel of Oak
Park and Kehillat Etz.
Regardless of one’s eligibility for the
program, families are welcome to apply
for financial aid if they qualify above
and beyond the amount of the tuition
incentive program. Having received
interest from three or four families
already, Levisohn simply wants the
incentive to be on families’ minds.
“What we hope it provides for families
is a removal of a barrier to think about
moving,” Levisohn said. “There’s a lot
of inertia in moving; it can be pretty
significant. So just to move that away,
as those startup costs will probably end
up being covered by the school and
equivalent to tuition.
“We’re hoping for a steady pipeline of
families moving from more expensive
areas to an area that’s very livable with
high quality of life, low cost of living and
to continue to build this community.”
To learn more, visit www.movetodetroit.org.
Farber Hebrew Day School offers discounted tuition
in its Recruitment Incentive Program.
Come to Detroit,
Come to Farber
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Farber Head of School Dr. Josh Levisohn