You are always welcome to contact us with any questions you have, and we will do our best to answer them or get you to someone who can. Some of the more frequently asked questions are answered below.

Enrollment Questions

• Q. Does completion of an MJR program lead to semikha (ordination)?
• A. Yes, provided that RAB-490 is taken at the end of the program; that is the Semikha Examination course.

• Q. Are there MJR programs for those NOT seeking semikha (ordination)?
• A. Yes, every program can be taken by non-semikha students. Also, non-semikha students can take any smattering of courses they wish for personal enrichment. Transcripts will be marked “non-semikha” if RAB-490 is not taken/passed.

• Q. Can high school age homeschool students take MJR courses?
• A. Yes! We welcome homeschool students of high school age. The process is detailed here.

• Q. What is the application fee used for?
• A. The first 10% is tithed to the Jewish Federation. Most of the remaining 90% of that fee is used to cover the cost of printing student IDs (it costs us $19.50 to have one printed). The remaining $3.00 goes into the MJR Scholarship Fund.

Tuition Questions

• Q. Where do my tuition dollars go?
• A. We’re glad you asked and are happy to answer that. The first $14 (tithe) goes to the PJ Library program to provide free books to Jewish children, $100 goes to the professor (they are paid on a “per student” basis), $15 is taken by the virtual classroom host for processing, and the remaining $11 goes toward paying the monthly fee we are charged by the host. It costs us $99/month  to use the learning platform, and since courses run about 3 months, it takes 27 students a term to pay that bill.

• Q. What forms of payment do you accept?
• A. For the application fee ($25), we accept PayPal, checks, or money orders; course payments are handled through our virtual classroom host, which accepts PayPal and major credit cards.

• Q. What is your PayPal account ID?
• A. michigan.diaspora@gmail.com

• Q. Do I have to pay the whole bill up front?
• A. No. You do save $10/course if you do, but we will work with you. Each course has two payment options: Lump Sum or Installment Plan. The installment plan allows you the option of paying in three monthly installments of $50.

Financial Aid Questions

• Q. Do you have any institutional financial aid available?
• A. Yes, we can bring your bill down up to 50% in cases of demonstrated need.

• Q. Can the G.I. Bill or FAFSA Aid be applied to MJR’s tuition?
• A. Unfortunately no, as we are not accredited, and an institution must have been accredited at least one (1) year in order to be eligible for those funds.

Course Questions

• Q. Does MJR accept transfer credits?
• A. Yes. Course equivalents or near-equivalents can be transferred in to take the place of the MJR version of the course. Other courses may be used to fill elective slots.

• Q. How are the courses designed?
• A. We have several courses designed by the professors themselves, and others which are designed by members of or Advisory/Support Team.

• Q. Are more courses being added?
• A. We currently have about a dozen courses running and are adding more all the time. We have over 60 courses (cumulative) in our programs.

• Q. Are more programs being added?
• A. Possibly. If there is a program you are interested in pursuing that we do not currently offer, you may request it and present us with a comparable program, and we can work together to design such a thing.

Other Questions

• Q. To what Core Beliefs does MJR hold?
• A. We have them on the website here.

• Q. What if my question wasn’t answered on this page?
• A. You can ask us by filling in the form below.