Scholarships

[ftm42]

YS has been offered an academic scholarship to an independent school and MS has just been for an assessment for an art scholarship. ES is already at the school. It's co-ed so they don't select pupils, but will offer scholarships if the child is assessed as talented in any area. The query is though, never having 'been here' before, we now have to negotiate with the school as we still can't justify three fee-paying children v state school! We'd like them to go to the same school [the independent preferably], but how far can you push the school to compromise on fees in order to afford it? eg can you do the old 'three for the price of two' thing?!

Probably no but it depends on the school
My DS1s school has entrance exam and it doesn't matter if you have ten children there already - ifthey don't get in they don't get in.

If the school is not primarily academic or if it is not well subscribed then you may be able to haggle .... although at that point, if they were not especially academic and they did not have good enough standards to be over subscribed, I would wonder what you were paying for IYSWIM

Some schools do give a reduction in fees, but it would be more like 20% off the fees for the third child rather than a "3 for 2" arrangement.

They may also have bursaries available, which are means-tested, but these are often focussed on children at particular stages so that they don't have their education disrupted.

You can always contact the school bursar and explain the situation and see if there is any room for compromise, but tbh I don't think it's likely than can do very much - if they are oversubscribed then they won't need to do this to fill the places, and if they aren't then they probably can't afford not to have you pay full fees.

academic scholarships can sometimes be honrary - so only worth a £100 or so a year (honestly) - but can be worth 100% fees in other schools.

you have to check your school's policy - i don't think there's any room for negotiation on the value of a scholarship really?

If you genuinely can't afford the fees then they may give you bursaries but if you are negotiating just to get the fee down for value sake then good luck!

Well done to your talented kids though for their scholarships.

A friend managed to get a good deal on three lots of fees for clever DDs but (a) this was years ago and (b) he moved all three at the same time - if you already have one there then you are not in such a great bargaining position.

BTW, how do you explain to the DC that you can pay for the eldest but not the other two?

Just thought I'd ask, having never done this sort of thing before! Once the 3 of them are enrolled, you get discounts for 2nd and 3rd, with the scholarships on top. We could possibly afford it if we take out a loan to pay part of the fees. Depends on how keen we are to skip the local state schools. Infants is brill, Juniors and secondaries a bit suspect round here!!

My daughter went to an independent for 6th form. I got 15% off by paying for two years upfront. They didn't advertise this and it certainly was worth us asking. Good luck.