DS offered scholarship! DH wants him to negotiate it?

[MiddleOfThePack]

DS has been offered a scholarship at a London uni, which is great & we're really proud. It's for a uni that's actually his no.5 choice, so he may say no anyway.

Thing is that instead of just saying well done, DH now wants him to write back and say thanks, but can you up your offer?!

Do people actually do that or do you just say yes or no, as it's an honour to be offered one in the first place?

I had a living expenses scholarship during my undergrad, which meant I still took out tuition loans (not entitled to maintenance loan, EU at the time).

I was then offered a 120% scholarship for a postgraduate degree, which meant my tuition was fully covered, and I could use the rest towards living expenses.

Amounts varied at my university - it was anything from £1k to £15k which more than covered fees. About 10% of students had scholarships, and the top 10% of those were on full scholarships, or higher.

Small, extremely specialised institution for reference. Less than 10 similar courses in the whole of UK and Ireland, which means the admissions departments will do anything to attract applicants, most of which will have offers from all those unis.

I have never heard of an Undergrad scholarship which would leave the recipient debt free! Typically they were around £3-£4000 per year. In many cities the market rent for a year will cost more than the maximum maintenance loan and every student needs to either have a further top up from their family for food and living expenses or they need to have a job parallel with their study to earn enough to make ends meet. Scholarships and bursaries make it possible for a student to just be able to focus on their studies without needing to worry about finances but they will still need a loan for their tuition and maintenance on top of that.

Because of how repayments are structured according to how much you earn rather than how much you borrow there is no point at all in a scholarship or bursary that reduces the amount of debt unless it eliminated all need to borrow anything. An award covering 50% for example would effectively just be a gift to the government and the student would still make exactly the same loan repayments. So it makes a lot more sense to help more people with lesser amounts.

There certainly is "free ride" funding for postgraduate PhD study which covers all fees plus a good stipend for living expenses. These aren't usually 'scholarships' as such though - a lot of it comes from a principle investigator (academic researcher) securing funding for a larger research project which can often have sub-sections of PhD sized work.

They defintely exist, as said, my daughters friend got one, her tuition was paid for for the four years masters and her living expenses, I think it was about 9k a year she got.

I'd be tempted to withdraw the offer of the scholarship (I administer scholarships for a university amongst other things) and say it was a computer error. It would cause me more work to have write back and say "you gotta be joking?" , frankly it would make me cross and see your son/dp as a grabby so and so. Don't do it.

There certainly is "free ride" funding for postgraduate PhD study which covers all fees plus a good stipend for living expenses. These aren't usually 'scholarships' as such though - a lot of it comes from a principle investigator (academic researcher) securing funding for a larger research project which can often have sub-sections of PhD sized work.

Postgrad is an entirely different matter to undergrad. Afaik the ones which get research council grants will be doing original research - it's not just 'study' for the students own benefit. Cheap labour for research labs.

@pointyshoes

This reminds me of the TV property programmes where a couple find the perfect house/flat for 50k less than their top budget. It’s excellent value. Wife/girlfriend is tearful as it’s so perfect. Meanwhile DH is “determined to get a bargain” and starts negotiating. They’ll get to a sticking point, the vendor will suggest splitting the difference, and the DH will refuse to budge on the last £1k. It’s clearly some strange pride thing about having the last word irrespective of whether it’s sensible or not. Happens time and time again and it’s always the man

And that is time and time again why women overpay and get ripped off. Negotiation is essential from car buying to house buying to salary. Too often women try to pay sticker price on a car or don't play hard ball on salary negotiation and therefore loose out.

This obviously doesn't apply here because it seems this sort of scholarship is a fixed amount.

Ucas seems to suggest they are a fixed sum for each one and can be awarded for all sorts of reasons. They seem to think they help with expenses so paying for everything is rare. They might come from an employer, or a trust and they have criteria and sums for each one. So just say thanks!

He ended up firming the only offer which didn't include a financial incentive, as that was the course (and university) he liked the most.

Which is the right reason to choose, regardless? (but on MN can always be dressed as only regarding a university as suitable if you think that it doesn't need you - not that I'm implying that this was the tone here).

And one applicant's fifth preference is another's first, or second, or... Preferences are personal. If the OP's DS never wanted to go to wherever this is under any circumstances (as opposed to, if all else fails), then there was no earthly reason why he needed to apply there at all.

DC1 did this this year - offers from 2 conservatoires one with a scholarship and one without - went back and told the latter and they then offered her one so you can negotiate.

God he sounds like an absolute tit

@Londonmummy66

DC1 did this this year - offers from 2 conservatoires one with a scholarship and one without - went back and told the latter and they then offered her one so you can negotiate.

That’s not the same thing at all...

The more important issue in my view is if a 5th choice is trying to tempt you in

At the initial UCAS application stage, we have no idea the preference order of applicants. We don't even see the names of the other universities our applicants are applying for. And we are not allowed to ask them in interview (although I can usually make a good stab, because I know most other departments at my level well - I know the pool our applicants are fishing in, as it were).

So it might be an offer which is designed to encourage exceptionally successful A Level UCAS applicants to firm that particular university when offers have to be Firm and Insurance (that deadline coming soon), but there's no way any individual university knows the applicants' personal preference rankings!

The more important issue in my view is if a 5th choice is trying to tempt you in
Is this not more that the 5th choice Uni might not be one of the more elite popular one's, and have to offer inducements to compete?
Of course you wouldn't know what order the applicant had ranked them in.