Bursary and scholarships - what's the difference?

[invicta]

Could you explain what the difference between a scholarship and bursary is, please? How much are they generally worth? What financial information is needed?

I am not actually thinking of applying to an independent school, but have always been confused by these terms.

Thanks.

[morethanpotatoprints]

I would also like to know the answer to this and likewise not thinking of applying.
So for the OP and myself, BUMP

[meditrina]

A handful of schools use the terms idiosyncratically.

But the normal meaning is:

scholarship - a non-means tested award of fixed value (can be zero, usually around 10%, sometimes up to a third or more) for excellence academically or in a specified speciality such as music, drama, or sport. Usually lasts for whole time in school subject to good behaviour and effort.

bursary - a means tested award to enable the attendance of pupils whose families who cannot otherwise afford the fees. Size of maximum award varies between schools. Usually they need renewing annually, and can be increased or decreased if family circumstances change. Every school has its own rules about assessing income and threshholds for offering awards, and for what sort of pupil they are looking for (some require scholarship level performance, others are looking for all-rounders). Again, they will be subject to good conduct and good effort.

[happygardening]

In many schools means tested bursaries are only available to those who've won a scholarship.
Only a relative handful offer large bursaries to any non scholars. If your interested in how bursaries are awarded look at the St Paul's School website they detail their bursary policy,
Many schools make lots of grand claims

[meditrina]

Oh, and some (older) schools have obscure awards based on centuries-old endowments which can secure you discounts (occasionally hefty ones) based on parental occupation - typically clergy, military or their widows or occupation matching a Guild - or residence in a certain parish. They may or may not be means-tested, spending on terms of actual bequest.

[morethanpotatoprints]

So on a thread in ed a while ago I saw a post saying that they had overheard a parent telling their ds they had to pass the test as it would save them thousands.
Would this be the type meditrina would be talking about.
It was a thread discussing awful experiences at some schools.

[happygardening]

There are some schools which still offer very generous financial awards to children who "pass the test" but these are becoming increasingly rare. Most schools attach a relatively small financial award to scholarships unlikely to be enough to make or break a decision based on finances to go.
Centuries old endowments are often aimed at people who are not wealthy and very specific the most obvious being the clergy, but you can have for example sons of fishermen from a very small area etc.

[morethanpotatoprints]

It seems a shame that the generous financial awards for the less well to do are dwindling. I often think about a friend of my dds who would really benefit from a good education as she is so bright and v G&T at maths. She never will though partly because of her upbringing, but more because of the area/schools available to her.
My dd is not academic so not an option for us, but very interesting.

OP I know of a specialist music school boarding or day that offer 100% bursaries to those on low income, admittance is only on ability though. Any fees paid are on a sliding scale and you can earn a huge amount until full fees are payable. I have never heard of another school which does this. Although, they may exist somewhere.

[meditrina]

"the generous financial awards for the less well to do are dwindling."

I am now wondering where you are if this is what is happening at all your local schools. It is very much against the national trend. Though of course, with interest rates being so low, bursary pots can be much smaller than they were and that can sharply reduce the number/size of awards. But it's scholarships which have really seen the downward trend, with many moving to honorary or token only.

A number of schools publish their income-based eligibility scales for bursaries, but none guarantees that if you income is at that level you will get a bursary. Even the very rich schools cannot afford it - though there are several who have an explicit aim to achieve it.

[GibberTheMonkey]

I'm surprised they are lessening as the schools need them to claim charitable status
What is common is no one ever really knows exactly what is available

[hardboiled]

Morethanpotatoprints, the Whitgift foundation also operate like that. It's all on their website.

[morethanpotatoprints]

meditrina

We are in NW and as far as I'm aware there aren't any such schemes up here, well not commonly anyway.
I miss read the previous post, ignore me. I thought somebody had said they were dwindling.
The school I was referring to that published a scale of determined bursary is Chets, I haven't heard of any others, but am not usually looking iyswim.

[middleclassonbursary]

We got our first very generous bursary in 2005 I believe those were the golden days for bursaries. Many schools had high ideals and were hoping to offer generous bursaries to many regardless of academic ability they were then hoping to help other children perhaps who just weren't thriving in state ed and might benefit from a different approach or children they just simply liked. Over the years bursaries have changed most are scholarships by another name we are lucky we have a straight bursary into a top boarding school but my DS is "highly desirable" ie super clever but also sporty arty exceedingly personable. In this results obsessed climate its the also runs who I feel have lost out those who might have got a bursary into a decent independent school 8 years ago and done ok better than in the state sector they in the most cases haven't got a cats hope in hell of getting a bursary into anywhere. Surely in this beginning this is what they were for.

[FormaLurka]

Some of the leading public schools offer scholarships of £50 or similar. The attraction is the prestige. However at some of the leading non public Indies scholarshuos of 10-30% are available.

[invicta]

I was just looking at a local school fees - approx £5000 per term for a senior school. I can see how a 30% bursary would make a difference , but would 10%? There's only £500 between the full fees of £5000 and £4500 - not a great deal of money if your re already paying out over £4000.

[meditrina]

Scholarships aren't means tested and are not designed to make a difference to affordability (if you mean the 10% that FormaLurka mentioned).

[GibberTheMonkey]

Ds1 has a large bursary
We applied for a bursar for ds2 and got turned down. He then got an academic scholarship (which isnt much) and we were considered again for a bursary and got it.
I suspect bursaries and scholarships are much more interlinked than they used to be.

[CloudyBayDrainageSystem]

The value of the scholarship is not the absolute financial face value (very low these days) it is.. (A) the prestige (in such schools it is deeply cool to be clever, you often get to wear a groovy variation of uniform, and the glory also reflects on the mums, too), and (B) the potential to then be very seriously considered for a bursary. Bursaries are not exclusively for scholarship kids but it certainly shoots you up the ranks when looking for financial assistance. It's a kind of steroid in the 'deserving of financial assistance' stakes.

...

[LadyPeterWimsey]

My DCs school has fairly nominal scholarships but bursaries can be very generous; the money is given according to need but in order of ability. That is, you are ranked according to performance and the money is given away in proportion to your financial need starting at the top of the list.

[middleclassonbursary]

"..."
This is the problem with the current way bursaries are being awarded the on paper not exceptional children are unlikely to get a look in. Those like SPS Whitgift Christs and my DS's school who do offer generous bursaries to non scholars are all very academic my DS could have got a scholarship into many academic school thus still getting financial support.