Scholarships (not means-tested)

[ArtHistory]

Does anyone have any know if any schools still offer decent (i.e. 50% plus) scholarships that are not means-tested? Do I believe the websites that stress that fee assistances is only ever means-tested, or do you think some bursars have a small fund squirrelled away that they don't publicise?
We have a very bright and sporty DS but we fall in the income bracket that means we would not qualify for a bursary (but also don't earn enough to afford the full fees without sacrifices that we don't feel able to make).

On a side note, if schools have their charitable status taken away, I wonder if they'll revert to scholarships for excellence rather than bursaries? I'm always fascinated by the economics of private schools!

the private school I work at (but can’t afford to send my children to) has small burseries for academic/ sporting excellence. Is about 5% saving though.

It’s generally 10% for sports/music/drama/art scholarships. They can often be combined, but with a maximum of 20% off fees.

academic scholarships will sometimes go to 50%, but not always.

Depends how old he is and whether you’d be prepared for him to board. (I know of at least one boarding prep that has in the past offered a 50% award for scholarship awardees.)

HMC brought in a rule back in about 1990 that scholarships over 50% should be means-tested. As a result most scholarships were reduced to 50% at most and then supplemented with means-tested bursaries.

but also don't earn enough to afford the full fees without sacrifices that we don't feel able to make)

What do you mean here?

A relative of mine receives a bursary for their child but they go through your bank statements with a fine tooth comb and would expect you to be making sacrifices before trying to claim.

I thought sacrifices were things that private school parents were used to making.

I know that we wouldn't pass the bursary means-tested test as we have too much equity in our house and as we couldn't afford a bigger mortgage needed to pay the full 5 years of senior school boarding fees (esp not after today) the "sacrifice" would be moving out of our family home.

It's a choice by us not to make the sacrifices (I appreciate that there are sacrifices that could be made) which is why I'm asking about larger scholarships. (The judgement on whether or not we should make those sacrifices is an entirely different question!)

I know things have changed recently as schools try to demonstrate their charitable status by providing only means tested bursaries, but I haven't found a rule banning ANY non means tested full scholarships.

I don't think schools would necessarily expect you to remortgage your house. It depends very much on the school in question. I would highly recommend contacting the bursars at the schools you are interested in and asking what you might be eligible for - they will want financial info but it might be worth it to you. They are usually happy to help. This would give you a bit more clarity in deciding what's possible and not.

My DD was offered various scholarships and whilst it was different at each of the schools, the scholarship was usually a nominal amount. But being awarded the scholarship meant being first in line for means-tested bursary funding - because the school then prioritises that child, to get them on the roll

Actually that said, one of the schools offered a total of 35% off the fees (not means tested) with a combination of two different scholarships; more unusual and in any case the fees there were about 35% more than other schools!

We didn’t apply for bursary assistance as we knew we wouldn’t qualify, but we know lots of people who have and would reiterate the advice to speak to them about what might be possible

I believe the maximum a scholarship can be without any additional bursary is 50% under government tax rules. Note that this is normally 50% of the day school fee and not off any boarding element, although this varies between schools.

I have seen 50% scholarships for music, for local children attending state primary schools and children of the clergy. In each instance the scholarship has a benefactor name attached to it so comes out of a specific fund as opposed to a general pot.

You normally see scholarships at between 5-10% of fees, occasionally up to 25%. The 50% ones are rare without any kind of means testing.

Best place to look is at the schools you are interested in as opposed to a broad brush which ones offer huge scholarships. Not all schools are right for all children.

We've just been through the 11+ process in South London/North Kent for Y7 entry 23.

My DS has been awarded an academic scholarship with a fee discount of 30%. He was also offered music scholarships at other schools with between 15% and 30% discounts. In our experience 30% was the absolute highest of all the schools we applied to and anecdotally, the highest of schools some of his peers applied to (both boys and girls).

I believe that some schools offer less for subjects like sport, drama, art... their larger discounts are reserved for academic and music. Although that's second hand information - I don't know that to be fact.

We met with the head at the school in question and took the opportunity to ask if there was any chance the 30% could be increased (chancing my arm!) - he was very nice about it but said that he had no flex on it. He did say that a number of academic scholarships had been offered this year ranging from 10% to 30%.

Some schools have completely removed the financial benefit attaching to scholarships citing many parents donating the discount back to the school for their bursary fund, as the reason for doing so (Sevenoaks, for example, openly state this on their website).

DD had a 30% scholarship (20% academic and 10% music) at a London day school.

Surely if you can't afford/don't want to make sacrifices necessary to pay for 5 years of boarding fees the obvious answer is for your son not to board!

Day schools will be much more affordable.

Alternatively, if there is a need for him to board, you could look into state boarding schools. Those are much cheaper as you just have to pay the boarding costs - not the costs of the education.

Some schools combine scholarships and I'm aware of some offering up to 60%.

My DDs old boarding school gives £0 for scholarships but has bursaries. I think you just have to go for a day school if you cannot afford boarding. At our girls’ school, the fees were high and previously the scholarships were funding other rich enough people. The bursaries tend to go to bright poorer Dc. Fair enough. Not all schools have vast sums invested from centuries of giving by old boys. Girls schools simply don’t have such a good income stream.

Do you fell into the help criteria by income, some schools are 90k ish I think. Regarding equity in the home it depends on the circumstances. If you have a 1m home with a tiny mortgage then yes you might be expected to borrow against the house.

DGD has an art scholarship at 10%. Her older sister received an art scholarship at a different school and was awarded £300 and a sweatshirt. If you apply for music/ art scholarships, the schools get a more rounded picture of your child.

@ArtHistory I think Westminster's Kings scholarship is worth 50%.

Whitgift offer a 50% academic scholarship. Usually only 1 per year.