Private school bursary - how it’s decided?

@Treesinsummer you stated you pay £25k a term for one your DC and in total you pay £75k a term for all 3. What school in the uk that costs this much bearing in mind the £22k a year at Brighton is for u6…..with younger years starting at £19k snd bear in mind these figures are full boarding. That would equate to between £3 and £6k a term on extras…..must be the drying cleaning bill…..but hey your imaginary fees pay for bursaries at tier 1 boarding schools that have some of the largest bursaries pots from endowments. Hey but you can afford to pay £225k a year in fees but begrudge those who can’t afford the full fees a bursary…..thus I suggest you are at a 3rd tier school - a perfectly nice local private school where there are no endowments etc and the only way for the school is to use any profit they make on bursaries to ensure they keep their charitable status…..again what is am I bitter about????

@Tobstar106 been called worse things by better people

@Treesinsummer you are wasting your time and money 💰! That’s not the first time you have been call a bshitter

@GentlePearlBear absolutely

I am making a general point regarding the fees of the various schools you claim "don't exist" because "no schools exist with fees over £25k". Basic fees approach that mark and then extras mean you pay that threshold. Regarding being bitter, I don't know why you are trying to pick apart a stranger on the internet on the basis they haven't specified the exact fees they pay or what exactly it's on. It's a ball park. Anyway, I don’t have the time or the crayons to explain this to you so please know that your comments are noted.

Thats great google search you’ve done and by the way you are wrong including vat Brighton is £22,125 per term for full boarding. Extras of £3k a term again BS. There is nothing bitter about my post….just calling you out. As I’ve said if you were really paying for a tier 1 school……

So no not bitter…..how am I and about what????

@OhDear111 Extra curricular stuff mainly. Plus, the trips averaged out over the year. There are four options for various trips this holiday alone. And then activities at the weekend. It all adds up. Oh and then you can include charity stuff and the uniform.

£3000 plus of extras a term is a lot though. That should not be necessary. Fees are now shocking for boarding though.

@GentlePearlBear Little lesson. Brighton College - basic up to £82k (or £27.3k a term), Cheltenham Ladies College - basic up to £66k (22k a term before extras a term, Eton £63k (or £21k a term). And so it goes on with boarding schools. Add on extras and you are hitting £25k per child, let alone the costs when you have more than one. Get back in your bitter box.

I call BS @Treesinsummer If you really are sending your DC to a 25k a term school it must be Hogwarts because there are no schools in the uk with £75k a year fees. You are likely at a 3rd tier school at best because if you were at 1st tier school as you claim then you’d understand the very foundations on which they’ve been built, also none of these schools use fees they use the endowments.

@Araminta1003 That’s correct and the idea schools are awash with bursary money these days isn’t what is happening.

It’s not just teaching staff - the school gardener has kids on DC’s school - his three kids on 50% discount. Same goes for office staff - they can be getting more in fee subsidies than their total salary.

Most schools do not have many kids on massive bursaries but what they do have is tons and tons of teacher kids on huge discounts and staff now insisting on the VAT paid for them too on the remaining amount. And none of it is charged as a benefit in kind either which is most bizarre given every other freebie people get at work is classed as a benefit in kind. And remember that often teaching staff are not “poor” and married to well off people. So if you want a big discount retrain as a private school teacher or go work there in some other capacity?

@Itsjustlikethat You will find that many girls schools or newer schools do not have endowments of note. Or indeed none. The reason is that many women became housewives and didn’t earn much and haven’t given to their old schools. Obviously some do but the huge endowments are nearly all at the old boys’ schools because they have centuries of wealth behind them. You might also have no idea where the money comes from until you join the school and it becomes obvious but you can look at public accounts of course. It’s very difficult to judge but fee levels might give a small clue if you compare like with like.

@WomensRightsRenegadeMany bursary dc are bright or talented. How do you think schools decide who is going to get 100s of thousands of pounds? They don’t want dc who are not going to benefit do they? Most are academic, sporty or musical. Sometimes all three! Entrance tests inform bursaries.

My DC is on scholarship, we don't have a "smaller house". We rent a small flat and drive a 16yo car. If the school fees are 50k+, it's pretty obvious, don't you think?

It's irrelevant to OP question anyway as normal people do not care and greedy ones will never have enough for themselves, but children are usually fine.

And this is why schools don’t want parents to be completely impoverished by fees. Bursary guidance warns against excessive spending on luxury holidays or cars - it doesn’t preclude modest holidays or having a normal home. Because they need children to be able to fit in and build good relationships with their peers.

(Every year there’s a headline 100% bursary award child in the newspapers - a refugee or someone whose parents are on NMW in unglamorous jobs - but the vast majority will have the same Apple products and the same sweatshirts as all their full fee paying friends.)

I don’t think this is true at all. I know several kids on 100pc bursaries at top London independents and they are indistinguishable from any other pupil. They all come from very middle class families, and fit in perfectly because of it. Maybe smaller houses would be the only clue. These bursaries aren’t going to very impoverished kids from tower blocks

Loads of kids use second hand uniform -
the secondhand sales at my son’s school are heaving!! And a majority of kids don’t go on the expensive trips. These really aren’t things to worry about.

I don’t look favourably at schools with generous bursaries subsidised by full fee-paying families, but I don’t hold anything against the bursary recipients. They simply make the most of the existing setup - good for them.

But from my perspective I have already contributed to the education of other people’s children by: 1) paying income taxes; 2) not using state a school place; 3) VAT on school fees. I don’t welcome the bursary subsidy being built in the school fees and incremental VAT on it.

I don’t mind if the bursary places are funded by dedicated endowment funds or optional donations.

I’d also like schools to be more transparent about their bursaries - how much per year is being spent, how many recipients and what’s the average subsidy, what’s the eligibility criteria, etc. I think today the schools that openly talk about this are elite schools with dedicated endowments. Most schools that actually use school fees to fund bursaries remain quite vague (with exceptions).

After all we are customers. We can and should absolutely question the service providers’ strategy and offerings. Good businesses should value their customers’ opinions.

I also don’t mind the hardship funds to help existing families undergoing change in circumstances to smooth out the transition (such as completing important exam years).

@Georgieporgie29 Agreed! Schools do have to be so careful now though as many have lost parents and we have many more parents seeking state places in my LA. This means less bursary income as the schools affected are not very old male establishments with centuries old endowments. Fewer paying pupils equals less bursary money.

@OhDear111 i absolutely wasn’t pointing the finger at cash strapped families. There was a poster earlier on in the thread that, I thought, was being quite rude in their replies, however, they were not a cash strapped parent by the sounds of things. I was just reassuring the op that not all people feel that way, as you have said yourself that you don’t begrudge them and neither do I, so that’s at least 2 of us.

@Georgieporgie29Maybe I wasn’t fair? You seemed to be pointing the finger at cash strapped parents who resented paying for bursaries. I’m only saying that’s inevitable.

@OhDear111 sorry I’m not sure what’s not fair? I gave my opinion on the bursaries at the school my child attends, I have certainly not meant to offend anybody and I apologise if that is how you have read my message.