(JTA) — Yeshiva University said its senior officials will take voluntary pay cuts through the end of the year as the school struggles to weather the coronavirus crisis.
University President Ari Berman told staff and students in an email Monday that he will take a 20 percent cut and each member of the senior staff a 5 to 10 percent reduction.
Y.U. classes were moved online in March, and employees except those considered essential were ordered to work remotely due to the coronavirus.
Berman said in his email that some employees whose jobs cannot be performed remotely are being furloughed, which will enable them to retain their health benefits and become eligible for state and federal assistance.
He also said the university, the flagship institution of Modern Orthodox Judaism, has pursued all possible federal and state assistance, and put a freeze on capital projects, travel, new hires and unspent budgeted expenses.
Berman announced the establishment of an emergency scholarship campaign “to directly assist our students who are in need and who have been deeply affected by this virus.”
The university will raise tuition fees for the 2020-21 academic year to $43,575 tuition, an increase of $1,575, and $2,900 in miscellaneous undergraduate fees, The Commentator student newspaper reported Tuesday. Tuition and fees rose by $1,400 in the previous academic year.
