Probably not on Long Island or in northern NJ.. or even within 20 miles of Boston
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Add central NJ to the list. The property tax, insurance, etc. NJ is among the highest in the nation.</p>
<p>Yet for us, NJ is the "choice". Because if you work in NYC, where do you buy a house in a decent school district? So that you can send your kids to public school yet still get a good education. Long Island? Even higher house price and property tax. So NJ is the "choice". Some times things just work out for you so IRONICALLY: Live in this area so you can easily get a higher pay job in NY erea. Yet the very same pay also puts you in 'uper-middle' class. The high price housing, property tax, insurance, etc. DO NOT COUNT. So your EFC says you don't qualify for any FA. How ironical this is?</p>
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[quote]
Because if you work in NYC, where do you buy a house in a decent school district? So that you can send your kids to public school yet still get a good education.
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</p>
<p>Are you saying with the millions of people who live in NYC none of us have actually been able to give our kids a decent education especially in the NYC public school system? </p>
<p>I beg to differ as I feel that my D has obtained an excellent education. She attended what was at the time the #1 elementary school and then went on to attend the top middle school in the city which is also a 6-12 school (turned down the top NYC specialized h.s. to stay with her friends). Overall, I think it worked out ok.</p>
<p>Actually, there are very few "zoned" high schools in NYC. None of the top high schools in NYC are zoned schools. at the K-8 level you can always use the variance process to essentially place your child anywhere they can gain admittance. YMMV.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, same here. 60 year old house, needs repairs. Had to get new kitchen appliances because cooktop leaked gas and oven didn't work alll the time, floor had holes. It's a median-sized split level; we live in one of the cheaper townships in our county, btw. We still have to pay $13K+ in property taxes.
Some of us get no bonuses in our jobs (H and I do not); our vacations consist of H tagging along when I go to present my research at a conference or else visiting my elderly parents who live in LA (haven't done that in over 3 years, shame on me).</p>
<p>Okay, my fellow Jerseyans--just one more time: there are millions of your state-mates who don't make what you do--somehow they survive. I live right here, 20 miles from NYC. Maybe I didn't pick the "right" school system--your choices may be leading you to expensive towns with those high priced houses, etc. But most of us don't live in those towns--we live in the ones with the "regular" school systems, maybe not adequate for you--but that's a choice. Living in a relatively much less expensive town than, I guarantee, you do, with schools you probably wouldn't've sent your kids to, my kids did okay, and ended up in pretty good colleges (which I could afford to pay for! :))</p>
<p>Garland, maybe so, but for those of us who are Orthodox Jews and must live in a town where we can walk to synagogue, there is no option. We did not pick our ownship for school system; we picked it because it was the most affordable one with an Orthodox synagogue we can walk to.</p>
<p>The financial aid process does have you SUBTRACT the money you pay for state property and income taxes from the AGI - so your property taxes are irrelevant. Other costs that are higher (car insurance, groceries, housing) are relevant - but the prop taxes aren't.</p>
<p>NJ__mom--that's of course an important consideration, though not one germaine to the vast majority of Northeasterners. I think it would be difficult for the FA system to work that into its formulas. </p>
<p>Off the topic, but that does seem like a tough situation for the less affluent Orthodox in the area!</p>
<p>I don't agree with the way they do things, but I'm sure someone will argue that being an Orthodox Jew is a choice. I could pretend to be an Orthodox Jew and live in a town with a good school system, and how would the FA office know I'm not a Jew at all? Maybe they leave those cases to be handled individually if the family appeals.</p>
<p>beef, actually, I came across someone in a similar situation who tried to get financial aid. In their case it did not work. They live in a mediocre town in NJ. The family is orthodox and needed a home situated so that they could walk to religious services. There is a high demand for these homes, and they can be very expensive. It is still a choice. I can find homes that are in the Oranges that have a Jewish community and are a bit less expensive. Anyway, they sent all of their children (3) to private parochial school. One was ready to begin college last year. Her parents told me that they ran up a lot of debt because of costly school expenses. None of those debts were allowed, probably because this was past debt and would be indirectly linked to school costs. This family has now put their house up for sale, because they are both in jobs where they can relocate. This was not the case until a couple of years ago. Living in NJ with college and parochial school expenses (some of which is taken into consideration for profile schools? was not enough). Their oldest child began instate at a public U., but the expenses became unmanagable, so another family is leaving NJ. Private colleges were not an option because of the cost to attend despite filing for financial aid.</p>
Are you saying with the millions of people who live in NYC none of us have actually been able to give our kids a decent education especially in the NYC public school system?
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Nop. There are some of top public school (HS) in NYC. However they are merit-selected(I have a friend whose two kids both addmitted in the top one). We used to live in NYC, and looked for housing there. But the prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrice (BaySide, ForrestHill, etc.)......</p>
<p>
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Muslims are not allowed to charge interest for money borrowed.</p>
<p>or pay interest.
Thats why they often rent their homes.
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</p>
<p>I did a little research and found that the Qur'an does look down upon interest, but only in the form of Usury. Apparently a lot of lenders back in the day (1500 years ago) would charge 100-200% interest to the poor, who would then never finish paying off the loan. Prophet Muhammad was a trader and he charged interest, and he took out loans with interest. His first wife was also a trader.</p>
<p>Apparently (from what I've read) there's a lot of debate on this, and different people interpret the Qur'an in different ways. Some people prefer to play it safe and take out no-interest mortgages from Muslim companies that charge rent instead for a fixed period of time before they can own their homes. </p>