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?

The least privileged in society barely know about bursaries, and then when they do, generally, they are reluctant to apply.

Yes. I’ve been saying this repeatedly on MN for considerably more than a decade. (You have no idea how much we agree on this.)

Nevertheless - it’s a bit … lazy, surely, to dismiss your SIL’s objections as nothing more than ‘inverse snobbery’? You say you’re not close? How would you like it if someone you see occasionally, who lives 300 miles away, turns up claiming to know better than you do how to bring up your child?

I’m not saying you’re wrong to be interested in your niece’s prospects. But you can’t expect your SIL to respect your pov if you … think she isn’t entitled to one because she lives in a council house on benefits.

Why not think about all the perfectly valid reasons why she might be reluctant to take such a step? And what might you do to broaden your niece’s horizons right now?

In the same way that non-dom status is legal but unreasonable. It's wanky to be a taker.

I assess bursaries as part of my job.

Your income would not preclude you from an award however we look at a year’s worth of expenses and the equity in your home.

if you spend highly in certain areas then any offer would be based on you bringing spend down to more reasonable level.

We would also have an expectation that you would both be working full time if your child is that old with no younger siblings.

Thanks @RandomersAssociation . Sadly you do not know anything about my sister-in-law, her views or her background. I have not told her how to raise her child, merely pointed out an option to my father in law that is available to my niece in the future which got rejected. There’s nothing ‘lazy’ about using the ‘inverse snob’ terminology because this, and lack of knowledge of the private education system,
is the truth in this instance. I would love to help ‘broaden’ my niece’s horizons now and be more active in her upbringing but she is 300miles away and I have 4 young children of my own.

But it‘s odd that you are even insinuating that her horizons do need ‘broadening’ now at 7yo by virtue of the fact that I simply said she lives In a council flat????

The least privileged in society barely know about bursaries, and then when they do, generally, they are reluctant to apply.

This is very true. We didn’t get a single bursary application last year and we have plenty of provision for them.

A focus for the coming year is to publicise the availability and see if we can up our applications.

Anyway, apologies OP for digressing, and good luck with your own application. Definitely worth a shot!

In my area full bursaries are below £30k None above £50k

We didn’t get a single bursary application last year and we have plenty of provision for them.

That’s absolutely shocking … Do you not actively go out and seek promising candidates by interacting with local state schools? Or is it that the state schools around you are reluctant to engage? Children I know well have benefitted from years of full bursaries at prep and public schools - I can think of a million things you could do to let parents know it’s a possibility.

In the same way that non-dom status is legal but unreasonable. It's wanky to be a taker.

You're comparing applying for a bursary to non-dom status? ok..

Wine had been drunk. It was really just a clumsy illustration that having the ability to have or apply for something doesn't mean it's the "right" thing to do.

That’s absolutely shocking … Do you not actively go out and seek promising candidates by interacting with local state schools? Or is it that the state schools around you are reluctant to engage? Children I know well have benefitted from years of full bursaries at prep and public schools

@RandomersAssociation The previous poster just said that it is her focus for this coming year.

I can think of a million things you could do to let parents know it’s a possibility.

This was what my post was about and you attacked me for it?? I was merely letting my fil know that private education was a possibility and I got rebuffed due to their lack of knowledge and inverse snobbery against the private system.

The sheer hypocrisy of your rantings makes me laugh! 😂

Purely anecdotal - but a friend's daughter was on a bursary - 50% - and they took her out of school 2 years in a row for a ski holiday in term time.
The school cancelled the bursary.
We have our son in a school with very deep pockets, and I think they give very generous bursaries to those for whom a public school education would not otherwise be available.
It doesn't stop very wealthy parents taking the piss though!

If you pay fees, you have to trust that the bursar is doing their job, and really guarding that bursary fund for those in need.

Our earnings were probably borderline at the point of sending DS to a fee paying school, but as time has gone on - we have pushed back retirement age and I also returned to work full time to ensure we could keep up with the fees. We have a house which needed a major refurbishment but we have spent 8 years doing it bit by bit, rather than borrowing more to do it all in one go and using up house equity. I guess that's our back up plan in case we hit a major bump in the road.
Hardly big sacrifices in the grand scheme of things, but we have put school fees second only to our mortgage and anything that happens after they have been paid, is a plus!

Wow, there’s an awful lot to pick out of that post, but let’s just say that I suspect you not interfering in her upbringing is likely best for all concerned.

@RandomersAssociation

‘shockingly’ the local state schools aren’t really keen on us taking their most able pupils and therefore don’t want to publicise the availability of bursaries.

A million ideas? Well. There are maybe 4/5 really.

1. publicise it on our website (we do that)
2. publicise it on our marketing material (we do that)
3. go out to local nurseries and target prospective parents (we do that)
4. Have open days and advertise bursaries are available there (we do that)
5. partnerships with local state schools (not interested)

I’d be happy to hear the other 999,995 ideas you have though?

Thanks for your strong views on this @WednesdaysNameIsFullOfWoe You have literally no idea about the full circumstances of the situation in my husband’s family.

My point, and I reiterate again, is that OP should definitely apply for a bursary if she decides to. They are there in all private schools as a way of a tax rebate and a reason for the school to have charitable status. But the sad fact is that the most impoverished people in society (and perhaps the most deserving of a place) will rarely know about or even apply for them. And I gave an example of my niece and father in law’s rejection of the idea, to support this.

It doesn't stop very wealthy parents taking the piss though!

It really doesn’t - I could tell you some stories that would truly shock you with the audacity.

@Merryoldgoat I can only imagine! The assisted places scheme in the 90’s was massively abused - parents living in separate houses etc to enable it, and others ‘cooking the books’. Such a shame that the real people who might have benefited weren’t really aware of it at the time.

@POLLYprosecco1

I was a bright child and would’ve easily passed an entrance test and financial assessment for a bursary but my mum would’ve had ZERO idea bursaries existed.

Nothing has changed - the parents at my sons’ school are surprised to hear about it. A couple of the kids are very bright and I’ve suggested they look into bursaries and they have a ‘not for the likes of us’ attitude a lot of the time.

@Merryoldgoat totally.
People on my road in a big house in an expensive area & car well beyond our means on a bursary for families below £50k. For two kids. Mum chooses not to work

@snowtrees

They wouldn’t qualify at my school.

Some schools are less stringent on their assessments but if the school isn’t full a bursary child is better than none.

Plenty of parents have tried to falsify paperwork or, rather, misrepresent their true status.

This is a very very popular expensive school. Not one I could afford on a joint income c75k with two DC. It baffles me.

90+% of the population with kids at state school will think taxing posh schools is a good idea. Especially as they look at their own bills.

I'm a prep school parent and know wishing Labour wont do this and wont be in power for a decade is wishful fantasy....I know Tories that are going to vote for Starmer and vowed never to vote Tory again until the loony fringe of Rees-Moog and co. Tories wont be in power for at least two elections, they've become a joke.

Of course its going to happen and the masses will lap it up, why shouldn't they?

@smokeandfire Because it's stupid. The people who will be the most badly affected will be those who are there because of bursaries (because that's what the charitable status pays for) and smaller independent schools that keep the fees as low as they can to keep functioning to provide an education to parents who might want smaller classes due to SEN or whatever. Many of these schools are not "posh".

So, what will happen? Those kids will just end up in the state sector so the education system will no longer be having money from those that don't use the system, but will end up even more stretched.

The schools that everyone rages about (the public schools), like my DC's, won't be affected at all. All that will happen is that the bursaries for those that could go without paying the bills will no longer have that access.

But it's the same as those who wang about "pension funds" paying "dividends to shareholders". Yes, the same dividends that pay the pension of the teacher, or doctor.

It's again a lot of spite mixed up with a spoonful or two of ignorance.

I agree. Very judgemental and harsh comments on here. :(

I have a friend just like OP, they go away on holiday 3-4 times a year, owns 2 high spec cars, private tutors and spend large amounts on extracurriculars. They also eat out and go out a lot.

She has two kids and both of them go to private schools and get 100% bursary. No one would absolutely notice they were funded looking at their lifestyle.

I honestly feel so sorry for those parents having to cut back on other costs to pay full fees and these people spending all they wish while getting 100% funds from school (ie fee paying families). I feel it's just so wrong.