Financial Help / Bursaries

I too want people to understand about bursaries which is why I try and answer all queries about them honestly. Bursaries are available although substantial ones not easy to find these days. There is a lot of crap written about them by people who clearly know nothing. As I've already said I very much doubt the OP would get one as she has significant assets but that doesn't mean they are only available to those living in "exceptional circumstances".

married - your information is somewhat limited I fear. We too receive a bursary (two actually) and our income adds up to more than £60k.

IMO - if you can show how your dc will benefit from and add to the school rather than the local state options, but cannot afford the fees, then you stand a good chance of attaining a bursary. At the risk of boasting, but to prove my point, we currently have 3 schools offering us a bursary for our ds for senior school entry in 18months time. One day school, one weekly boarding, and one full boarding. (we are immensely proud of our ds!!!).
The % discount on offer currently ranges from 25-75%.

We filled out all the forms honestly, work hard, and support our children to full fill their potential. I repeat - it is not an easy life for us. There are sacrifices.
I know I will be flamed down for boasting about our situation, but really, I want people to understand more about bursaries and what sort of people are afforded them.

married for a start I have a DS! I don't have an affordable boarding school in the area or as we are rural an affordable suitable commutable day school. I like every other parent in the country who wishes too regardless of their income went to look at my DS's boarding school and liked what it had to offer, I felt he would thrive there, we registered for a place was tested and interviewed and then offered a place. We filled in a bursary application form because our income does not enable us afford the fees in total. Anyone who wishes to can also do this. The school agreed we couldn't afford the fees either and therefore gave us a bursary.
The school is committed to offering an outstanding education to all who they feel would benefit from it even if they can't afford it regardless of their circumstances exceptional or not; we're just an average family. I don't understand what your problem with this is.

I'm not sure what you're saying tbh. Why send your dd to a more expensive local school that you can't afford when another is available. Our school fees were about 36k incl expenses (london Day schools) and the schools could not have been better. We expected to fund our children's educationn entirely. One of dd's friends is the dd of a single parent who has a disability and lives in social housing. Her mum works three days a week as a teacher because that is all she can manage. Her Xh bankrupted them before running off with another woman. Her dd is stonkingly clever.

I have no issues in that gorl receiving a full bursary. I think I probably do have an issue with your DC being subsidised tbh - they wouldn't have been eligible for the old assisted places scheme. And are presently having something you can't pay for in the absence of exceptional circumstances and that seems very wrong to me.

Your information was taken from the Girls Day School Trust. We have one near us the fees are les than we pay with a bursary. There boarding fees are also about £10 O00 pa less than my DS's school. Our school fees our £34 000 pa when you add in the extra your the best part of £3000 PCM virtually the cost of a whole term at our local GDST school! No one on £45000 pa can afford that neither can someone on £87 000 pa.

middleclassonbursary I am really surprised you were offered a bursary on that income. The GDST leaflet says most higher awards will not be paid if families are earning more than £19,500 and with no capital assest other than their home. It is highly unlikely that a bursary would be awarded in any circumstances where a family was earning more than £40,000 (£45,000 in London) except in exceptional circumstances.

Friday I doubt few would dispute the the fact that in general having wealthy parents brings educational advantages. But the comment made up thread stated that children on bursaries had parents who made a "career" out of being poor, that they were poor on paper alone, and that their wealthy parents not only assisted them financially to enable them to live but they didn't declare this assistance when applying for a bursary. This is highly insulting to those of us on bursaries who work hard, don't rely on handouts from wealthy parents and most importantly of all fill in the relevant bursary application forms truthfully.

A fail to see how simply having wealthy parents is as an advantage.

What you're citing is the equivalent of the "my grandmother smoked 100 a day and lived to be 90" fallacy, or more commonly on MN "My children may be on FSM but why is the school paying special attention to them". Obviously, there are bad rich parents and conversely parents who are living on JSA but providing their children with a rich and broad intellectual background. But on average, just as people who smoke tend not to live as long as those that don't, the children of affluent parents are educationally advantaged over those who are less well off. There are exceptions. But the trend is absolutely undoubted.

A fail to see how simply having wealthy parents is as an advantage. My brother in law has rich parents. They are horrible people who should never have had children and have chose to live their lives completely for themselves with never a thought for the children e.g. nannies looking after children whilst they went on holiday, children eating on their own and not with parents. How could he ever be advantaged simply because THEY have money. Surely the money has to be passed to you in some way for you to actually benefit from it - or are you assuming that is always the case - because I can assure you that it isn't.

lisad willing to pay or no, merely having rich parents puts people in a massively advantageous position compared to the majority (sime of us don't even have parents let alone wealthy ones).

lainiekazan "I have not made a career out of being poor" We are both professionals my husband works 50 - 60 hours a week in a responsible job and I work 40-45. We have an income of approximately £87k pa but this does not put us into a position to pay £34k in school fees. We don't own a house or have any assets, we take one cheap holiday a yr and eat out two or three times a yr max. We drive average cars and wear average clothes. We don't pretend to be poor because we're not in the grand scheme of the thing or live in a tied cottage we pay the market rent which for our area is a £1000 PCM for an average 3 bed house, we also don't have very wealthy parents. We have a very bright able DS who has a lot to offer to a school, we did what anyone else in the UK can do; we applied for a place at his school and applied for a bursary at the same time, they liked him, felt he would benefit from a top quality education and also make a contribution to school life and knowing we couldn't afford the full fees offered us a significant reduction. I call this good fortune and luck not a "career".

I always thought bursaries were for children who may particulary benefit from a certain school's curriculum/environment??
ie - a child who shows arty potential, but the local state schools don't offer art opportunities, or sport, music, academic ability etc.

We have bursaries for our dc at two different schools, and we work all hours to pay the fee's, and make sacrifices. We have a small ugly house, and have little money left over each month. The bursary makes it possible for our dc to make use of their schools, but it is not an easy life. It is however a choice we are happy with.

If I knew someone had a bursary and lived in a £1m+ house I'd be pretty fed up and tell them to downsize first.

Agree. Most people's kids have to slum it at state schools. Surely hundreds of thousands of people need a bursary. In my experience, bursary recipients are those who have made a career out of playing poor. Eg one case I know parents are gardeners, live in lovely tied house, and have wealthy parents. But because on paper they are asset-less and earn little, their dcs qualify for bursaries. Must stick in the craw of those losers who are working all hours and commuting and coughing up full fees.

Who can truly need a bursary? Surely private education is a benefit for those who can afford it. If not then your children would presumably go to a state school.

Presuming the OP is taking the piss because otherwise their post is offensive to those who genuinely need bursaries! Been there, done that & we truly needed the bursary, the OP does not.

OK re-reading it says over £1 million equity with £300k outstanding. I guess that does mean £1.3 million.

Soontobesix - I'm sorry but I don't understand what you me about it being 4m. Having re-read it surely it is actually worth £1.3 million. £1m equity and £300,000 mortgaged.

The OP said the house is worth over £1 million and there is debt of £300,000 outstanding soontobesix. How do you extrapolate £4 million from that please?

Married the op house is worth 4m not 1m .

It just goes to show that what is a genuine problem to one is to another, a "problem" they would love to have. However, it is never easy to have a big decrease in income as everyone lives within their means and a decrease in income means some big changes. Leaving a home you love to down-grade is always going to be very upsetting and equally to take a child out of a school they are settled is equally so. Also, depending on where you live, but a 1m property is not ridiculously extravagant and the reduced income is not a lot to fund a £300k mortgage and along with all other bills I can totally understand why the OP would need money to fall back on. To be honest, it IS a situation I am glad I'm not in. However, my children do not go to private school and I have no information that may help you OP. I would only say, that this money is really the grandparents and not yours so I don't think you need to mention it when speaking to the school. I would however start talking to the school and take it from there.

At our DC's schools the policy around bursaries is that the value of the home will not be taken into account but that parents are not expected to have any other significant assets and are not expected to be in a position to be taking expensive holidays and driving expensive cars.

I think the OP has taken a lot of stick for having a house worth £1 million. Around here (SW London - Wandsworth/Putney/Wimbleon) a three bed terrace is now approaching £1 million.

A lot, I think OP, depends on how close your dd is to GCSE's. The school is unlikely to be unsupportive if she is in the equivalent of Y10 or above but might consider that a move at Y9 wouldn't be unreasonable.

Obviously I don't know where in the country you are but certainly here in London the economy is picking up and I would have thought that one of you could get a job that brings in between £20k-£30k per year or at the very least could find seasonal work at this particular point in time.

I think you need to talk to school and discuss the best way to support your daughter. It might be possible to arrange a longer period over which to pay the fees or even a reduced fee.

Ultimately it is about supporting your dd and doing what is right for her in the longer term but you have to take a significant degree of responsibility for that too. A £300k mortgage is huge and probably not payable on £24k per annum. Houses in London (if that is where you are) are selling like hotcakes at present and I think the decent thing to do would be to sell your home and downsize, possibly move out a bit, freeing up sufficient equity to repay your parents and to repay the school which hopefully will support you through a rough patch.

I suspect you are in or around London and the key point for me is that the recession is ending. One of you has been out of work for a few years and has had the opportunity to retrain or has or should have had the opportunity to retrain and both of you need to be working even if it's picking up more menial work than before. Not many excuses for both of you not to be working in some capacity.