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Original poster

Bursaries for independent schools

104 replies

clutteredup · 22/02/2011 12:00

Does anyone know how little do you need to earn to be eligible? Our local independent school offers a bursary scheme for 'those who would otherwise not consider private school for financial reasons.'
DH earns a good salary, he's a civil servant which means he won't be getting a pay rise and will essentially be getting a pay cut due to increased pension contributions - I'm not moaning we're very lucky thta his job is currently safe, but we couldn't ever contemplate affording private school fees. We don't go on holiday abroad, caravan in Cornwall at easter and visit family in Summer. So its not like we have a luxurious lifestyle or have major areas we could cut back on to afford the fees. But on paper our salary looks good.
Is it worth applying for a bursary or do we have to accept that we are too comfortably off to be helped but not wealthy enough to afford the fees.
Am only considering this as an option as we have a secondary school which is on the borderline of going into special measures and looking for optional back up if we don't get a place at school 5 miles away out of catchment which is a decent school. DS is very bright and needs a school which apsires to more than just a couple of GCSE passes.
Don't want to start a private school debate just wondering if anyone knows about this at all.

OP posts:
crazycarol · 22/02/2011 13:03

It depends on each school who will set their own scale. Ask the school(s) that you are interested in as they will tell you. Some have it published on their websites. Most have a sliding scale and at one point may cover 100% fees and at the other end 10%. We receive bursary for dd and her school have put a figure of £55K if you have 1 dc and £60K if you have more than 1. To be honest I haven't seen anything more generous than that. That wasn't the reason why we picked the school though! I have seen other schools with figures of just over £20K, although how you can afford school fees with that level of income I don't know, but I guess some schools don't have the funds to make generous bursaries.
They will also look at assets as well so if you have a huge house with no mortgage but an income of say £25K per year they will probably expect you to liquidate some of your assets!

janinlondon · 22/02/2011 12:50

This is from the GDST schools website. Most schools don't specify an actualy amount - you would have to take your chances as there may be a lot of applicants with lower incomes than yours. But this gives you a rough guide.

The GDST bursary scheme

Most bursaries will be awarded to students from families with a total income of less than £16,500 per year and with no capital assets other than their home. It is highly unlikely that a bursary would be awarded to a family whose gross income is more than £48,000, other than in exceptional circumstances.

Original poster
clutteredup · 22/02/2011 12:11

Thanks Lilymaid. My concern is I don't want to take DS all the way down the road of getting him motivated to go to a school which I think will be good for him and then finding out that even with a bursary we can't afford to meet the fees. Also if we have to realy scrimp and save how fair will it be on his two sisters who won't be able to go as we will never be able to afford 3 at any level of fees.

OP posts:
Lilymaid · 22/02/2011 12:07

There's no standard salary figure that can be used nationally as all independent schools will set their own limits. DS received one when I wasn't working and DH had a reasonable salary (for one of the less well paid professions). The bursary was a percentage of the fees. As soon as I returned to work the percentage awarded as a bursary decreased - which was completely fair.
If you don't ask you won't get, so ask the school whether you might be eligible.

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