Q for people who receive a school bursary please.

[1805]

We have been awarded a bursary (hooray!!) which says "subject to formal verification of financial circumstances".
What do I have to prepare for this? Or is it something the school does?
Will I have to dig out mortgage statements and bank statements (may take a while to find and organise them!!!)
They have seen to pay slips and accounts.
Thanks for any help.

[corlan]

Congratulations - you must be thrilled!

I guess it's different for every school and your best bet would be to phone the bursar on Monday and ask what's meant by 'formal verification'. My daughter's school asked to see all my bank statements etc. before they awarded the bursary.

Bear in mind you will probably have to produce your evidence and fill out the application form every year you have the bursary, so you should be well prepared for next year.

[1805]

Yes, it says to be reviewed each year.
We are just sooooooooo happy for ds.
We will show them whatever they need to see obviously, but should probably get organised anyway.
Will be calling the bursar first thing tomorrow morning!!!!
yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

[crazycarol]

We have to be assessed before we get any offer. We completed a form and provided evidence of: bank statements, mortgage statements, credit card statements, savings, payslips, P60, child benefit, child tax credit, details of any other income, dividends, investments, if self employed - accounts. We have to provide this every year. Once you have done it once you will know what to prepare for the following year.

[kerrygrey]

We were awarded one last year and haven't yet been asked for details to renew. Wondering whether to contact the bursar or wait and see...

[1805]

Kerry - what was your "formal verification" documents?

[kerrygrey]

1805 - pretty well everything. House valuation (don't know how they checked this) mortgage documents, P60s, value of cars, bank statements - you name it

[onadifferentplanet]

I had to provide pretty much the same as crazycarol the forms even ask if you own any artworks antiques or expensive jewellry and the make and value of your car. Usually we would get the forms around May each year but have already had the ones for the next academic year when I Irang up to query as I havn't got all the usual end of tax year documents yet I was told that demand was especially high this year so they were doing then early in case anyone needed to give a term's notice if they didn't get what they needed!

[crazycarol]

We get our forms in about Oct each year to be returned by a date nov/dec. We then get a reply around mid feb with details of any offer for the following academic year. We get sent the forms automatically each year "as we applied the previous year". We have just recently got our letter for next year and am still .

We have never been asked about make/model of car and are asked to provide a value of our property ourselves (ie it isn't a formal valuation).

We find that our school bases the calculation on the last year of actual financial figures ie for school year 2012-13 it is based on our earnings for financial year 2010-11. It worked out quite well for us when I increased my hours at work (with consequential rise in pay) as we got bursary based on part time hours for 2 years after I went full time. I did fully disclose this to the school at the time which I found strange but obviously within the rules. I would be interested to find out how they calculate it if your earnings suddenly drop.

[1805]

Has anyone ever had the bursary stopped or massively reduced? I don't mean because you suddenly became rich, but because the school ran out of money to give you?
Have arranged try-out day for dd next week, and will see the bursar then too.

[eatyourveg]

ds1 was awarded a bursary in Y7, now in Y13 (upper sixth) and its never been reassessed. At the time they wanted details of absolutely everything, average monthly spend on groceries, clothes, petrol - even sky TV! (not that we had it) We didn't mind giving the info as we knew we had nothing in the pot for them to find.

Never heard of a school stopping a bursary for an existing student because they ran out of money, I would imagine they would reduce the number of scholarships available before heading down that road.

One thing to remember when filling in the application is to stress what your dc can bring to the school rather than going on about how lovely the school is. You are after all trying to persuade them to invest in your dc

[onestepforwardtwostepsback]

We have just been awarded a bursary and it was a relatively simple but verging on the bizarre procedure. I am unable to work due to heath problems and my husband doesn't earn a fortune so our income is relatively low. I contacted the school in September last year and the bursar (lovely lady) encouraged me to apply sooner rather than later and suggested that I come in and speak to the head and make him an offer LOL I decided against doing that at such an early stage in our relationship
but did complete the bursary application form and sent in all the documents they asked for.

I heard nothing back so I phoned and spoke to the bursar and she confirmed they'd received my application and they would look at it after the entrance exam. Again, she suggesed I meet with the head and once again I declined saying I would wait until results. Fast forward to yesterday and a large white envelope was delivered by the postman - it was an offer of a place but no mention of a bursary. My OH phoned and spoke to the bursar and she immediately offered a 25% reduction in fees but when he told her we would still struggle to pay she upped the bursary to 50%. She also hinted that there would be a strong change that this figure would be increased if he made an appointment to meet the head. We haven't had a single letter from them regarding the bursary, daughter hasn't been interviewed and we've not been asked to provide any further evidence. I find it all a bit strange. I don't know what I was expecting but it's all been very easy.

It's all looking like St Trinians a the moment except the head is male. It was a boys school which turned co-ed a couple of years ago and girls are in the minority so I think the fact that we have a girl has something to do with their enthusiasm for throwing a bursary at us. It isn't particularily academic and it's results aren't much better than the local comp but it is small and has a very good reputation for teaching kids with SEN (my daughter is Dyslexic). It's turned out quite a few (slightly eccentric) sportsmen/politicians/celebs who are in the public eye and I'm absolutley loving the idea of my daughter going to this school. She's always found school a struggle and it's been one long battle to get help with her reading/writing so I don't mind if she doesn't get A* in her English Literature A Level. One things for sure I'm convinced this is 100% the best school for her.

DH has a meeting with the head this afternoon.

[1805]

onestep - great news, well done!
That is a rather odd way to go about bursary's - the make-an-offer thing!

Haven't been asked to bring any docs with me next week!!!

[Migsy1]

Brilliant news onestepforward Good luck!

[designermom]

Hi ,I am applying for a Bursary for my kids who are already in Independedn school but need it due to change in circumsatnes fianacially.
Any suggestions what to expect duri ng my meeti gn with the Bursar which is tomorrow?Any advice or previous experiences on the meeting will be great