Much has been said already in this post – I agree that education and advanced skill building are keys to success (note – success doesn’t have to mean becoming a millionaire) in our world today.
Cost of tuition coupled with the horribly relentless cost of living increase (especially in the tri-state area) is flat out unsustainable. I think it’s disgusting that a guy can slave for years through an advanced degree and through work in the hopes of making enough to cover costs and then by the time he gets to tuition, boom, all that slaving was really not enough. With tuition at like $15K per kid it never will be. Something HAS to give with tuition or the cost of frum living will become literally unsustainable over the next few years for all but the highest net worth individuals and people will just not have kids or not send them to higher cost Jewish schools.
I’d say though that people can be encouraged to just move away from the NY-NJ area. Costs of taxes and housing (the number 1-2 expenses for your average family) have just spiraled out of control here. We pay an enormous amount of taxes to these states and get appallingly little for it. I find it repugnant that hard working people pay enormous amounts of tax cash to local municipalities for public school education that they never will use. I also find it repugnant that on top of all the other costs a frum person must shoulder, housing costs rise another 15%-20% as well for the privilege of living in a Jewish area. Taxes and housing are sharply lower in out of town communities (no state taxes in Texas, for example, where there are vibrant Jewish communities) and it’s possible to save nearly $30K a year or more in housing and tax costs alone. So why don’t more people turn their back on this area and leave for greener pastures if they can (job, etc)?
There’s a head in the sand mentality about this though. I was speaking with someone who responded to my above argument (I was arguing about Texas) with “but are there yeshivas in Dallas or Houston?” To which I responded yes, there actually are a few. He said “but are they {certain type of hashkafa} places? I’d only want to send my kid to {type} of place”. I thought about that a little later and realized how ridiculous an argument (on its own) that is for staying in the NY-NJ area. Why would someone trade more financial peace of mind and shalom bayis etc so that their kid can be not just educated in a Jewish manner, but educated only to be yeshivish, modern, litvish, etc? You can’t have your cake and eat it, too, in economics. You always need to make a tradeoff. If you don’t, that could be leading yourself down the road to financial doom.
No, popularly waving the phrase “shver tzu zein a yid” around doesn’t answer the problem nor is it proper. Saying that shows an appalling lack of thinking and initiative in combating the ingrained financial problems we face. It shows a remarkable ability to keep one’s head firmly in the sand while the world crumbles around them.