Donor’s gift enabling Milwaukee school to offer first year free

MILWAUKEE — A major gift from an anonymous donor will allow the Milwaukee Jewish Day School to offer fully subsidized tuition for new students.

Under the Building Our Future grant program announced last week, the school said it will subsidize the first year of tuition for new students entering first through seventh grades for the 2012-13 school year and provide major tuition grants going forward. New students enrolling in the eighth grade will receive up to a $4,000 tuition grant.

The gift will be worth $1 million to $2 million, depending on how many students take advantage, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Current students also will be able to take advantage of the program: Those in grades 1-7 are eligible for up to $2,000 per year for three years, and current kindergartners can receive the same amount each year for eight years.

The current tuition is $11,460 per year for students in grades 1-8.

”It is encouraging and humbling that this local donor believes so deeply in the value of MJDS that the individual is making an extraordinary investment in our students and our school,” the head of school, Brian King, said in a news release.

The Milwaukee Jewish Day School was founded in 1981 and serves students from kindergarten to eighth grade.