Income levels for bursaries/assisted places

The mortgage and equity situation seems to vary enormously from school to school so you really have to check the individual school bursary policy or speak to the bursar. If you have a very small mortgage in relation to your income and gave a huge amount of equity then you will probably be expected to release some equity to pay fees by most schools. However, if you live in a modest home with a significant mortgage in comparison to your income then most schools will understand that remortgaging is not feasible even if you have a lot of equity.
Most schools are not stupid and they do understand that not everyone can remortgage even if they have significant equity in their home. Most schools would expect you to dispose of a 2nd property or release funds from it because 2nd properties are viewed very differently from your main home.

cookie from what I remember dds school would look at the practicality individually, i.e if you sold or remortgaged could you pay school fees and live in a reasonable home. What you can't do is have a bursary and at the end of their school years have a tangible and valuable asset that many have sacrificed to pay fees. Basically you can't choose to spend large amounts of disposable income/ assets on other priorities and get the school fees paid too. Best to speak to local bursars though about your actual specific situation and their policies though as only way you'll get the correct answer for you

how much equity in a family home do bursars tend to consider? I only own my own (only) home but have £150K equity which has been built up in last 10 years. Would I be expected to remortgage to pay for fees? My income would qualify me for bursary. (Sorry to hijack - somewhat related).

I wouldn't worry then!

You've both won something valuable. Enjoy it!

Gruach He is in senior school ,it is an academic selective school ,over subscribe and he passed the entrance exam, I am a single mum with low income so he is qualified.
Superexcited thank you very much ,I dont know much about these things It confused me between scholaship and bursary .

babymind my experience is like superexcited. Dd's bursary only changes if my income or assets do

It depends on the individual school babymind.

Prep or senior. Whether it's well established or not. Does it have a proven record of significant, successful bursary support? Or is it desperate to increase numbers on roll?

Is this a school that everyone has heard of - that people would sell their grandmothers to get into. Or is it (shorthand) a small local school with a nice uniform and a leaky roof?

In general they would expect your DS to try his best, not waste the opportunity offered. Assuming he passed an exam to access the bursary?

Unless the school is in financial difficulty it would be unusual for them to remove a bursary before the end of the child's time there if he is working as expected. It may we'll be reduced if your financial situation improves significantly.

babymind the best thing to do is to contact the school bursar for clarification. The usual scenario is that once a child has been offered a bursary they will continue to receive a bursary each year that they attend the school but the bursary is subject to annual review so if you earn a lot more then the bursary will be reduced accordingly (which is the only way to fairly distribute the available funds). I have never heard of a bursary being withdrawn after a couple of years unless the family has suddenly started to earn significantly more but as bursary policies vary from school to school it is best to clarify it with the school bursar to out your mind at ease.
Both of the schools that offered us bursaries clearly explained that my son would be entitled to the bursary for the 5 or 7 (if he does 6th form) years that he attends the school but the amount could be adjusted up or down according to our earnings each year. If our earnings stay the same then the bursary stays the same.

I have my son offered 90% discount from bursary that is good but I just wonder if he start school then later the school does not give the discount anymore ,anyone have experience with these as normally it depend on the fund available ,for my understand it will be very upsetting thing for the kids to leave school later just because not enough fund for bursary ?
I guess many parents may turn down the place for the bursary offer and just get in to a local state good secondary school because of lacking the information about bursary

When my dtr was offered her school place, we qualified for a good bursary (can't remember exactly what percentage now but around 65%) based on our disposable income. But, even though she was offered a place, she didn't do as well in the entrance exams as other girls who were also eligible for a bursary. So we didn't get offered one.
We took a decision to still send her and she is now about to start sixth form. Again, on paper we qualify for a bursary. But were turned down again because my husband is now the sole employee of his own company and the school didn't 'count' the tax he pays on his dividends as an outgoing. So in reality, despite having less disposable income than when she originally started (husband was employed full time at that time) on paper we had more because they used a gross figure rather than a net figure for tax.
You really need to speak to the schools involved. As I say, on paper both times we qualified but the reality was very different.

Yes I agree, but in that situation I think I'd prefer an explanation of why the bursary is insufficient than no offer, because at least then there's be some consolation in knowing you were good enough but at that moment others were more so. Just something along the lines of reiterating their policy eg as you know we do it on exam places due to the limited pot, and when we reached your placing, although high overall there was only enough left in for x%

Only the individual bursars and head teachers will know for certain how or why they make these offers, which on the face of it seem quite cruel. Better to offer the place and no bursary at all than a place with an insufficient bursary, putting it just tantalisingly out of reach.

That's an interesting theory kuppen, but difficult to prove because while if they really want the child they'll follow with a higher offer if the first is declined, it doesn't follow if they don't make a second offer it definitely wasn't just a test. Because with the sheer numbers applying if you keep offering that amount down the rankings after the first has declined chances are you'd find someone still well within the range of scoring high enough for a bursary that does have a relative etc that can pay the rest. Although to be honest I doubt it's a tactic the bigger or more popular schools need to employ, because they have enough fee paying pupils to pick from that increasing revenue from bursaries isn't necessary.

I suspect some schools might offer lower bursaries in order to test the water. They offer a substantial but insufficient bursary to see whether parents or relatives/estranged parents etc... are more willing to contribute than the school was led to believe in the bursary application.

If the school is massively over-subscribed, it might make some sense for them to do this.

I don't think they spread the bursary funds in the way that emo's choice of school did at all schools though.
We applied for two schools and made bursary applications to both. Prior to the exams we filled in a bursary application form. One of the schools had a very clear bursary policy laid out on its website and sent us very detailed information in the post stating that if we qualified for a place after the entrance exam our contribution to fees would be x amount based on the income details provided. They made it clear that we would either be offered a bursary place at the indicated amount, placed on the bursary waiting list, receive an offer of a full fee paying place or receive no offer at all. There was no mention of receiving an offer of a place with a lower bursary contribution.

The other school sent the bursar out to see us a few weeks before the exam and said that based on our income we would be entitled to x amount if our son was successful in the exam. They did make it very clear that they didn't have enough funds for all bursary applicants so a very strong performance was required in the exam to secure a bursary. Both schools hold bursary waiting lists so that if a bursary place is turned down somebody on the waiting list will be offered a bursary. Neither school have a policy of offering smaller bursaries than they calculate you can afford based on your income (because obviously most people would not be able to afford to take the place).
We received offers from both schools of the amounts previously indicated. We turned one place down and we're hopeful that the funds would be allocated to somebody on the bursary waiting list.

If the school that emo applied to has a policy of offering smaller bursaries than required so that they can give something to a greater number of people then they should make that very clear to applicants prior to the exam.

emo in fairness though that's the risk of applying, in every school I've heard of there are more eligible candidates than bursaries so they weren't deceiving you, they said yes you're entitled to a 100% bursary, but unfortunately due to the money left in the pot we can only offer you 65%.

Dd1 applied for private school 2 years ago for year 7 entry
She won a maths scholarship which gave a 5% reduction in fees
Income related bursary of 65%

At the time I was a single parent, 2 children and earning 25,800

School bus was £1000pa

I turned down her place

When I enquired initially I was told she was eligible for 100% but apparently there were 'more children than anticipated that qualified for a bursary had passed the entrance exam'

I wouldn't have gone through the application process with her as there was no way I could have afforded the £6k in fees and school transport it was going to cost

Although 26k is the cut off point for a 100% bursary at most of the schools local to me the upper earnings limit for partial bursaries is between 43k and 56k depending in the school. There is a sliding scale of fees between £26k and the upper earnings limit. A family with a combined household income of £30k would not be expected to pay a huge level of fees and would probably qualify for a bursary in the region of 85-90%, whereas a family with a combined income close to the upper earnings limit would be expected to pay close to the full fee.

If you ring the schools you are interested in and speak to the bursary they will be able to give you a much better idea of the level of bursary you might get. Don't forget that competition for bursaries is tough and applications often exceed the number of bursaries available so your child wil need to score very well on the entrance exam to be in with a good chance of getting a bursary place.

Whilst keeping an eye on bursaries etc, make sure you fully research and are content with your state school options too.

During years 5 & 6 competition really hots up for the big schools and the pressure on the children can be immense if they feel this is their only acceptable option. Bursaries and scholarships really do require a significantly higher than average performance in a field of children who are all significantly higher than average. It must be tremendously hard for children who work so hard for the exams to have to turn down a place due to a lack of sufficient bursary.

That sounds about right. Dds school and the others I looked at locally did consider expenditure and dependents and things too though, as well as what you're income is. Because £30k and 3 other children in private rental wouldn't leave £4k over in your example for school fees, but in different circumstances it might. I also discovered that it's on a sliding scale too in line with disposable income not full bursary or nothing. And that I got an an accurate prediction of what I'd be expected to pay if just my income increased and nothing else changed. Scholarships are usually only a token reduction, some schools offer them with a bursary, others use them as a temptation to high achieving fee paying pupils and award bursaries separate. But really you need to speak to the bursars at each school, they don't all operate the same.
Generally though the bigger name schools have more money for bursaries, so more chance of a generous one. And bear in mind that certainly in my experience and what I've heard from different areas, there's way more children that qualify for bursaries than money in the pot, so it's done on achievement, so qualifying for a bursary and passing the exam doesn't guarantee one.

I looked very briefly at some of our local private secondary schools. It was quite low - it was the same figure as you quote £26,000 as a limit for a 100% bursary then a sliding scale I think upto about £43,000 I think. A combined income over that means no assistance at all.

There is a limited pot for bursaries in most schools.

So parents having a low income doesn't mean that a bursary will necessarily be awarded - the pupil will have to be seen as in some way desirable to the school.

Desirability could be determined by achieving a particular mark/place in entrance exam, for instance. Another question to ask bursars in your trawl round schools.

I obviously cannot speak for all schools but a major prep school is unlikely to offer a significant bursary before yr 6 or 7. They need to be able to establish that your child is, in some positive way, likely to bring credit to the school. (Credit such as getting into the top senior schools they feed to.)

Are you considering boarding? Boarding schools are quite keen to attract and keep pupils who'll really make something of the experience.

Whitgift school give a fairly detailed chart of the bursaries they offer.
www.whitgift.co.uk/docs/911-WhitgiftFoundation.pdf
That might give you some idea.