Bursaries

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Merely as a footnote to the comprehensively-debated VAT on school fees, we donate several thousand per year to our children’s private school, in order to provide bursaries for less-fortunate children.

We have just cancelled these donations and are aware of other parents doing similarly. It’s genuinely sad for the kids who will lose out, but the Government need to realise there are consequences to their actions.

Just a comment - I have no plans to enter into another debate.

It should be "their weight" not "there weight" and "there is little sympathy" not "their is little sympathy"...

@Claphambunny

How do those spelling mistakes affect the understanding of the post?

They don't.

Cheap point scoring.

You get offended too easily - I didn't mean salary, I mean that to get a scholarship a child has to work really hard - long hours of extra study/training sacrificing play time, tedious exercises in their specialist field to get to a certain standard etc. You don't get opportunities otherwise.

@Claphambunny You must be German! 😁

Lol. Not at all :-)

Thanks for the correction I’m use to it being dyslexic hope it makes you feel superior

A bit but I thought it was funny - in a nice way actually, was not meant in a nasty way. Just funny as we are talking about education

I’m not offended, that’s your take on it. I’m pointing out how you come across…

Interesting how you say that when someone calls you out on it…

@Claphambunny

If you think picking on another poster's spelling is funny then I can't help you.

Yes, I come across like this to you - because your first thought is I'm talking about your work and income whereas I couldn't care less about other people's jobs and money and I was making an entirely different point.

These are grammar mistakes not spelling mistakes. And I thought they were funny as we were talking about education. To be honest - I assumed she just had a glass of wine (nothing wrong with it!) as her tonight's posts are very different from earlier today - both in tone and content

well technically yes, because I assume bursaries are for disadvantaged children not those who are high earners but can’t stretch that far.

The thing is that the above is always so subjective. Swathes of children are cut out of private education due to the cost and that is before VAT is added. Some of these will below the poverty line and would be the classic recipient of a life changing bursary but what about those families who had three or four children and mortgaged themselves to the maximum to afford a bigger house so that all of those DC had a separate bedroom and have privately educated those DC from reception compared to those who stuck with one or two children and stayed in a more modest home as they hoped to fund those DC through private school for secondary. Are either or both of those families deserving of fee assistance? What other decisions are you expecting either or both of those families to have made? What happens if one of them upgraded their car this summer? Should they have gone on holiday? Should they be expected to'shopmijn llfg Aldi & Lidl or can they still shop in Waitrose?

@Claphambunny

They are spelling mistakes. I'm sure the poster knows the meaning she was intending in the context of the sentence.

The OP disagrees with the Government's policy of charging VAT on school fees. So is going to change their behaviour, not by pulling DC's out of private school in order to avoid the VAT, but instead is going to stop donating money to the school and will instead donate money to an animal charity.
So the Government and the public coffers don't lose out, but the lower income families who previously benefitted from subsidised school fees do.
I wonder if the OP will be writing a stern letter to their MP or the school too. That'll learn them.

I think the OP is just making an error in anthropomorphising 'society' as a single entity, which is a very human thing to to do. People naturally relate to other individual people, not to an abstract concept. So we anthropomorphise it.

We're nudged to feel positive about paying so much tax by being told it's helping anonymous 'society'.

The OP has very generously given a substantial amount voluntarily to help an anonymous family at her school. She rightly doesn't know who they are, so she's motivated by helping 'society' through improving education.

So when the government swipe a substantial additional amount from her in tax 'for society', I think it's a fairly human error to see all those contributions to 'society' as being to one amorphous entity, rather than remembering that the bursary is to an individual family.

If a neighbour you were voluntarily supporting forced your child to pay them back a made-up false debt, then you would probably stop giving the neighbour additional discretionary support.

VAT on education isn't a loophole, it's a tax raid deliberately targeting an unpopular part of society. It's wrong, and people are seriously pissed off. That's going to change their future choices.

OP, it will all shake out over time as it becomes clear that this tax raid actually costs money rather than raising it. Don't cause difficulty to a family in the meantime. Speak to the school about a time frame to stop your donations so that they don't have to withdraw support from a current student and just know not to offer a new bursary.

Incidentally, you see the same anthropomorphising about 'the rich'. It's certainly not a unique error.

Honestly, OP, I think this is a good thing. Imo, your £6k per year on bursaries was not a good use of money in the first place, and that funding could have been used to much greater effect elsewhere. If it's now going on tax or on a charity like the NSPCC, that's a positive development to be welcomed.

Alternatively use the money to take some unpaid parental leave. You're entitled to ask your employer for up to 18 weeks before your child's 18th birthday - in one-week chunks - with each parent entitled to ask for up to 4 weeks in a single year. Most big employers are happy to do it.

Spend some family time with your children. You'll all get so much from it.

This.

I completely disagree with you.

The OP is entitled to do what they want with their money. I don’t necessarily have an issue with vat on school fees but you are being objectionable.