ZD:
You wrote: “A Yeshivas goals are not the same as other places. If a yeshiva was properly run, then students who cannot pay would be kicked out”
It would be foolish to ignore the business aspect of a yeshiva. It needs to have a budget, take in money, and pay its expenses. But a yeshiva is more than a business. Just listen to the proclamations made about it at their fundraising events. The speaker typically heralds the public role of the yeshiva, that accounts for its performing a public service. A grocery only receives money from its customers. In the case of yeshivos, the customers are the attending students (with parents paying). I have yet to met a yeshiva that could survive on only tuition. They are nearly all out there (I refer to those “in town”) collecting donations or raising funds in other ways. Watch Purim, where bochurim and young boys are everywhere with their hands out. Why should I donate money to a grocery store where I don’t shop? Reason is, that yeshivos are performing a public service, and must provide education to students who cannot pay. Grab any menahel, and you will hear of incidents where a student without capacity to pay anything was accepted. Yeshivos are community services, not just a private enterprise. That’s why they fund raise.
There is also a reality (deserves its own thread – and there already were several) that many yeshivos throw out students whose parents do not pay. It’s a complex issue, and has been discussed in many parts of the frum media, aside from frequent discussions at Torah Umesorah with Gedolei Yisroel. Of course, we hope that expulsion for financial reasons should not be done, and I am one of those who protests that practice. But the business reality cannot be ignored any more than the community and public service should.