Bursary checks

[DandyHam]

Has anyone been through the school bursary application process for a private school - how intrusive is it ?
Do they just rely on the documentation, bank statements, P60s , mortgage statements etc you supply to them to make the assessment ?
Or do you have to give permission for them to carry out a full financial search of all your finance records of all savings accounts, bank accounts, etc which is more detailed financial search than just a credit check ? or it is if just a credit check they run if that?
My sister/in law is applying for a bursary for a small independent school in England and has an old isolated savings account, unused for years, with about £9k of savings she's always kept as an emergency fund and is worried about declaring it in case they expect her to use it to pay fees and leaves her with no emergency savings in case of any future financial difficulties : job losses etc , so she wasn't going to declare if but I'm worried if she doesn't she might end up getting herself in trouble if they do a search that identifies it.
She doesn't have much else, which all the documentation she has been asked to provide will evidence , although has equity in her house but still a good sized mortgage, so I understand why she wants to protect this little bit of financial security but not sure she's doing the right thing by not dticllosing it.

Not speaking from personal experience of the process, but I understand it’s pretty thorough.

Id just be honest and declare it. As I understand it you either get a bursary or you don’t: they don’t say once you’ve paid that first but we’ll give it - and realistically £9,000 won’t last long on school fees!! The school would know that.

I’ve just gone through the process, they have asked for 12 months bank statements for all accounts - however there is no credit checks so they wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell them. They want to see income / assets and also wanted to know our outgoings.

Me!

both children (successful)

it is very intrusive. I wasn’t least bit worried though

Shocking really that she wants the bursary.. and willing to be selfishly dishonest.

There’s probably deserving children with honest parents.

This Op private messaged me asking whether they look in to pensions and only Uk based accounts

needlessly to say my response was… just be transparent

but yes, clearly this op is hoping to mislead

They’ll expect her to use it. Quite rightly. Also the answer is it varies school by school.

So tell your ‘sil’ to be very careful with mistrusts

I know a couple of people with bursaries for their children. Financial checks were thorough but they both had significantly more savings than 9k which was fine. They don't expect you to put yourself in a financially precarious position which you would be without any savings.

I think so too. You won’t be ruled out for having a sum that won’t cover fees for long. I wouldn’t be lying.

Our DS is currently boarding in prep which we are just about managing to afford, but there is a big hike in fees coming in two years when he moves to senior, with annual fees of close to 60k including VAT.

Out of interest, does anyone have an idea of the level of the maximum level of joint income where a bursary would be considered? We are reasonably comfortable but are not rich by any means and have no savings at all once school fees are paid. Without a bursary we will cover the increase in fees at senior school by cutting back on spending, not by dipping into some huge pot of cash we have swilling around.

I know the answer will vary from school to school, but any informed views would be appreciated.

With that fee level, I assume you are looking at a boarding school.

I would expect them to look at assets as well as income when assessing for a bursary. So if you have a lot of equity in property for example, expect them to ask you to a consider a charge against the house(s) Also pensions, art, cars, yachts etc.

Thanks. Yes, DS is a boarder.

We have our home (mortgage paid off in five years, fingers crossed) and I have a final salary pension, but no hidden assets in terms of art, cars (does my 10 year old Mini count) or yachts!

I do understand that we are still luckier than most as we do have a reliable income stream albeit no savings and often an overdraft at the end of the month, but we do pay a shed load of income tax that contributes to the funding of state schools that we do not use, and we pay another shed load for school fees before VAT was applied. The VAT on top does feel like we are paying three times for the same service.

I am not expecting sympathy from anyone, but it is hard to be told that an extra 10k is being added to fees and we just have to suck that up to make Starmer look more popular on a topic that I suspect most voters don't care about.

@tachetastic

Bursars look dimly on those with substantial net assets (as anyone with a mortgage-free or near-mortgage free home has) applying for bursaries. It is very common for people with small or no mortgages to be told to take one out to finance school fees.

It's quite straightforward - tell the truth, and let the school.follow its rules regarding bursaries. The savings may or may not affect a bursary.

If you can't afford private school then send your child(ren) to a state school.

@Tachetastic If it's the school I'm thinking of, I have been through their bursary application a couple of times, once for Y9, then again for L6. They will entertain bursary support for relatively high income families where there are not other assets or extended family support readily available. But it will depend on how much they want a particular pupil. The advice we had was that they would be looking at the top third of applicants. Since your DS is sporty I would recommend you pursue a sports scholarship which would get you a 10% discount with no means testing, and they might offer a further reduction based on need if really keen.
Happy for you to DM for more info on our experience.

The bursary checks seem to be thorough and intrusive….however…..£9,000 to them is like £5 to most people. If you had 900,000 or even £190,000 they might be interested, but £9k is peanuts. Won’t change anything.