Lakewood, NJ – Beth Medrash Govoha, a massive yeshiva in the heart of Lakewood, will be eligible to dip into $750 million in state funding for capital projects if a November referendum is approved by voters.
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The borrowing legislation was amended Thursday so that “all private, nonprofit, licensed institutions of higher education are eligible for grants under the bill, without exception,” according to bill language. Final legislative approval is expected next week.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tom Kean, R-Essex, said that without the change, “schools such as, for example, the yeshiva in Lakewood would be (among) the excluded. They would now be allowed to participate because the majority of their students are not rabbinical students.’’
That follows a national trend of religious schools gaining more access to public dollars, and it’s a marked change from New Jersey’s previous 1988 bond issue for higher education.\
There are supposed to be two comments here before mine. Why were they erased?
Not rabbinical students?
Probably plumbers or electricians
Look, I have no problem with people sitting and learning all day.. thats great. But it really rubs me the wrong way that somehow BMG got itself classified as a college, so now each student gets the school over $5000 a year in pell grants. And now these additional funds. That money, that comes from our tax dollars, is designed to go to schools so that students can earn a degree, and earn a living. BMG does not give most of its students the ability to earn a living aside from the few who become rebbis.
ModernLakewood –
Are you serious?? I’m a practicing social worker who is a former BMG student. I was accepted to Long Island University entirely on the basis of my Talmudic Studies degree from BMG. In fact, my class at LIU had over 20 students from Lakewood with the same degree earning their entry. I know of BMG students currently in NYU and Rutgers for Social Work as well. At LIU, I found that the skill set I developed in my years in kollel at BMG not only prepared me for the work but actually gave me a significant edge – the work ethic I developed in Yeshiva carried over and I had no trouble writing endless reports and papers at school. There’s a strong focus in Social Work on critical analysis– something any serious kollel guy will shine at. My professors were amazed at how fast we were able to drill down to the core of an issue and how engaged we were in the search for truth. P.S. I have friends who are lawyers, psych students, & accountants (lots of accountants!) who all were able to enter quality grad schools based on their degree from BMG – I feel fortunate that I was able to learn and then hit the ground running in grad school – no complaints here!
sorry for the typo. Instead of
“Grade Point Average. 3.75 is twice as many As as Bs. Thank OK?”
I meant
“Grade Point Average. 3.75 is twice as many As as Bs. That OK?”