To apply for bursary at an independent school?

[expokittens]

Household income is just over £70K. We have two cars on mortgage, go on holiday 3 times a year (but we try to make them budget hols), like to go to the theatre a lot and eat out. House mortgage £1200 pm.

The school charges £7K per term.

Anyone in a similar situation who was successful with their bursary application? Would they look at our spendings and turn us down?

You’ll need to provide all your incomings and outgoings and bank statements, equity etc.

You don’t fit what the actual bursary system was designed for with your spending. The school might also be subject to external audits especially if it has charity status.

Check the school doesn't have an income criteria. I looked and in London most of them are less than £50k.

Realistically, on your joint salary with that mortgage, you can't afford it and still give your kid a comfortable life. Especially with cost of living.

Also: Do you have two kids? What will you do about the next one? Don't sent a son private but a girl to state - this happened to a friend of mine and she's never got over it, the difference in opportunities in the teen years has riven her family life.

I don’t think you will get it. Here it is for those with a household income under £30k.

Presumably they ask your income? Do it. All they can do is say no. If there are other people more fitting with the terms of the bursary they will get it instead.

There's absolutely no way in hell I'd be committing to £21k+ a year based on your salary and outgoings. Even if you did get a reduction your other financial commitments are high and could get a lot higher depending on how interest rates go.

I think you need to save like mad and think about sending him at 13, not 11.

I think you should ask. But I go without foreign holidays, new car one shared old car between me and dh and wouldn't be eligible. We sacrifice to send our dc to school. That's that. It's a choice.

But no reason you shouldn't apply for one anyway.
They're very very detailed about the finances. Both of you would need to maximise your earning potential before they grant one ie generally you'll both be expected to be at work ft and they'll often look at equity in your house for example. They go through with a fine tooth comb on everything!

Schools like SPS and SPGS have exceptionally big bursary pots and allow you to earn up to 120k and have 1.4 million in property. That's unusual though.

This is the second thread about this within a week. If you can afford holidays and eating out you can afford to pay for your own school fees like the rest of us as opposed to milking the system. He’s your child. You pay for him.

For DS school we had to send a years bank statements and were asked where we had been in holiday the last three years, the value and age of our cars and the value of and equity in our home. They expected parents to raise money from their assets to pay fees, for example remortgaging and using the equity rather than awarding them a bursary. We were awarded 50% for this academic year, that is the maximum they give. We withdrew him as he hated it anyway so did not take up the bursary. This school also allowed parents to apply for a bursary at any point during the academic year.

DD school only offer them in year 7 and they are academically assessed for these as well as parents being financially assessed. As long as nothing changes the bursary stands through to year 11 and then for 6th form applications are open to everyone again. We again had to provide bank statements evidence of income and details of assets and their worth. They go up to 100%, we were not awarded one as they are very limited. We sent her anyway, I work extra hours to cover it.

All schools will reassess your eligibility every year and I found the process very intrusive, but I do understand why it needs to be.

The cut off at our (London) school is £40k which is pretty low, especially in London. But it’s a heavily over subscribed school so they can afford to be selective. It’s worth asking the school what their cut off is.

Just keep in mind that it’s looking likely if you do need to top any bursary up, that within the next 2-3 year there will be VAT at 20% to pay on top.

I don't think that's true, unless the OP spends 21k a year on holidays and eating out.

Impossible to know what the OP meant, without more - but people wouldn’t usually mention their three holidays a year, in this context, if they meant staying at the grandparents’ cottage in Cornwall. Three holidays a year usually means skiing, plus the Caribbean, plus a wild card - Kenyan safari, or shopping in Tokyo or bungee jumping in Tasmania …

Thanks, yes I mean camping/renting a cottage rather than luxury hotels and finding cheap accommodations in general. EasyJet and Ryanair are our friends.

We hadn't thought about applying to independent schools previously, it's only after I had a chat with a parent who suggested going down this route but she doesn't really know about our income and outgoings so decided to ask here.

This is very interesting. Thank you.

Do you both work? They will expect you to.

Thanks to all the posters who have shared their thoughts and experiences. As you can probably guess I'm very new to this so am learning a lot from you all.

First stop would probably be to talk to school admissions...

The VAT thing won't happen.

DH works full time, I work part time.

@Janieread

I was going to ask that too. Can you please elaborate on this? Thanks so much.

Yes you're unreasonable. Frankly I'd be embarrassed to even 'give it a go'. There are many in much less privileged situations who need it more.

Do you have younger (or higher needs) children, or other inflexible caring responsibilities? Or health issues yourself?

If not, you’ll need an answer for when they ask why you don’t work full time.

£21k fees pa is approx £1.75k per month.

Although paid over 3 terms but you could start saving now to get ahead.. Have you worked out what % bursary you would require to afford it? An academic scholarship is usually 10-20%. Would that make fees affordable?

First step is speak to the school (if no broad information online) ask to speak to the bursary and take it from there. If it's sounds doable, visit the school and start the process. You tend to pay £100-£150 for admissions. If your son is bright he could sit the entrance tests and that will determine if an academic scholarship plus small bursary would make it possible.

We have a bursary.

Aunt went to the school. 4 months bank statements submitted annually. Made clear both were expected to work ‐ not sure if part time would have been OK, I don't think so. Grandparents expected to be asked. Salary similar to yours. Even with the bursary it's bloody expensive.

None of this really means anything though OP as it depends on your school and who else has applied.

You will get something if it is a London school/big name especially if your child is gifted and/or talented. We were offered up to 50% bursary plus scholarships which took the fee remission to 80% (on a similar income). However it wasn't enough for the school that we wanted which only offered 30% on £10k a term fees. Add in any transport costs, lunches, compulsory trips (you might get the equivalent % off compulsory trips) and uniform/sports kit plus fee inflation each year.

We had home visits plus all wanted to see a years worth of bank statements/savings account info etc.