How much is your scholarship offer worth?

[ChocolateWombat]

I have seen some other old threads on this topic, with people often mentioning that the scholarship offer they receive doesn't remember what is mentioned on the school websites, (usually less generous,mbut sometimes more) so I just wondered what people have been offered this year or in recent years.

It's one of those questions you can't really ask at the school gate,it can ask on an anonymous forum and hopefully people won't mind giving percentages and figures.

So, if you are able to say if a percentage or absolute figure has been offered (and if a percentage, what that is worth in money terms) that would be really helpful, along with if it is academic, or music or whatever. And if you were offered more than one,mere they very different in value?

All very nosey I know.......but I understand that the move is towards bursaries and away from scholarships, with some being purely honorary and not worth a penny...so just trying to get a feel for the lie of the land. Thanks.

10% for DS's sports scholarship.

Scholarship benefits also include extra training sessions but DS is also expected to represent the school in major sports in addition to his scholarship sport - so for instance this term he couldn't play his preferred sport because it's a minor sport and he had to be in the team for something that he doesn't enjoy as much.

Hmm yes. If a scholarship is purely honorary or for a very limited amount, the significant strings which can be attached, might sometimes make it not worth having. I've heard of scholarships which said the person had to take the subject at GCSE,mor make themesleves available for a huge amount of sport/music which would severely limit involvement in other areas.

And this year I have heard of more people being offered scholarships worth less than £500 because it's all about the kudos and support programmes that come with them, according to the schools.

dc has two offers of 50% - one for a very big name and highly selective school, so don't agree big names tend towards 'honorary' awards. What we have found is that some of the big name schools don't advertise these figures, and they are not always offered (whereas they may offer multiple nominal awards)

Wow! Good for DC - that's a great achievement and such a good saving. And to get it for 2 schools......well, well done!

Many schools now means test due to being charities. They cannot give huge amounts to the wealthy, however good the children are. They use the money for bursaries. Often big names have way more money, especially if they are well endowed former boys schools or current boys schools. There was a great lack of wealthy women giving to those more recently established girls' schools; many of which do not predate Victorian times. Plenty of schools pay bursaries and scholarships from fees as well as investments. Some schools ask wealthy parents to waive the scholarship award if they do not need it. My friends did this. Another child benefitted.

Nothing to add to this as don't live in the U.K. anymore, but I'm really surprised at how low these numbers are! I went to private school in London many years ago and still contribute to the bursary fund (had a fabulous education that I'm very grateful for). What's the difference between a scholarship and bursary assistance?

Scholarship awarded solely on merit. There used to be large discounts for the best students, irrespective of parental income.

Now, as nearly all independent schools are Charities, they must think about widening their intake. To do this, many schools still encourage the brightest pupils to apply but offer the greatest discounts to parents with the least money. These are means tested bursaries but may be linked to scholarship quality pupils as well. Some state what the highest income is that will attract a discount. Bursaries vary from 100% down to much less. Wealthy parents may be asked to forgo the scholarship fee reduction to help others or get no fee reduction at all - the child is still a scholar though.

If you contribute to a bursary fund, does the school not give you information on how they spend the fund?

DD is in year 7 and gets 25% on an academic scholarship.
If she had attended the prep she could have got 50%.
We are in Yorkshire so fees not huge anyway but it helps.

Dd was offered a 25% scholarship by one school (didn't take up place). My niece had a 50% scholarship at another school. Some schools also offer a discount if you have 2 or more children attending at the same time.

DD got 20% academic scholarship as a percentage for one school (which was maximum for the school), 20% for the other (also maximum for the school) but as a fixed sum so percentage is going down over the years, and a ~7% in another school, again max for that school and as a fixed number so would be going down as a percentage.

The other cases I personally know of (rather than hearsay) are 50% at Eltham (a boy who also got into Westminster), Dulwich College 30-40% academic, Emanuel 20-50% academic

My understanding is that less prestigious schools will give bigger academic awards. As a matter of fact, I am not aware of big name London schools giving academic scholarships of any significance at all, but I know cases of same schools giving 30 to 50% ranges (Latymer Upper, Hampton and LEH) for music (Grade 8 level and junior orchestra/conservatoire level for the ones I know)

Also know of a girl who got 25% academic scholarship at Francis Holland Sloane Square

bojorojo to be honest, I don't read all the bumpf any more! I'm on an automatic direct debit. In my day (80s and 90s), the bursary was mainly there for parents who faced financial hardship part way through a girl's academic career. Often these financial difficulties were indicative of difficult times at home, and the school went to some lengths to do what they could to maintain stability for their pupils. Classic case was divorcing and fighting parents. I benefited from this bursary for the last two years of school, and will give back for so long as I have an income. My school is/was one of the "big name London schools", I should think.

That said, there was a small handful of girls on full bursaries from the outset, perhaps this was the 80s equivalent of scholarships (which we didn't have).

Does anyone have any experience of writing a sports scholarship cv? Is there a template thanks

0% 6th Form academic scholarship. The Principal has an award distributed to certain "talented" pupils paying for music lessons, drama etc. and it is given for one year. This is worth way more than the scholarship and plenty of children receive this who have very wealthy parents. If I was a very suspicious person, (I am) I would say it has more to do with the possibility/actuality of the parents giving money to school, rather than the "talent" of the child. Academics are clearly undervalued!

To answer the question: Is there not an application form for sports scholarships? You do not need a CV. You just put down extra information if you need to.

DD applied for a music scholarship, but we had forms for everything sent including sports and they just wanted a statement as to why she was applying, what she wanted for the future. DD wrote her own personal statement. She had an initial interview at which they asked about previous experience, then she had to sit an entrance exam and do a music performance. We were present at the first interview and I'm sure enthusiasm got her to the next stage.

It's all relative to the fees though isn't it? A 10 percent scholarsip for a pricey school will still be out of many people's reach.

I was also to read about some earners over 7Ok are eligble for bursaries!

Well yes, £70k is probably more like £50k after tax. So if school fees are £20k it would not be affordable otherwise. Particularly if more than one child.

Which is why many middle class people are priced out of fee paying education now.

I know of some families at a non-selective Independent all through school who offered 100% bursaries to DCs who got into the local superselective grammars but I don’t know any who actually stayed on to take up the offer. They also gave automatic discounts to military families and church ministers who moved about a lot as they had a number of boarding places but were mostly otherwise a day school.