Private schools are taking (huge) donations to admit overseas students

[Bobochic]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/09/top-public-school-willing-accept-donations-secure-places-overseas/

What do you think?

One school says that it might help a borderline/marginal candidate over other borderline/marginal ones.

Hard to get worked up about, really.

Well, on the one hand--if wealthy overseas parents CAN pay more, maybe they should do. As it might help to control demand levels, which are greatly in excess of the supply of school places that are actually available.

On the other hand, it will increase the tendency of British top public schools to chase wealthy foreign parents, meaning they have no incentive to try and keep their prices at a level that is affordable for local parents, and there is a case for saying that as British public schools are a part of traditional UK culture, local parents who are UK nationals should be prioritized.

Schools which are hoping to hook overseas parents who are prepared to be huge sums for a place are likely to put more money into building glamorous pumped-up facilities, extracurriculars, expensive school trips and other goodies--this will tend to increase the tendency towards fee inflation, putting the schools even further out of the reach of parents who are not extremely wealthy.

On the other hand, the number of people who are educated at these places is so tiny, maybe it does not matter so much in the great scheme of things.

It does, however, make me feel more strongly than ever that these places do NOT deserve charitable status. You wanna run a glammed-up British educational experience for a lot of wealthy overseas elites---well, go ahead and do so. But I don't think you deserve tax breaks for doing so.

One interesting thing to think about is whether as the numbers of wealthy kids-from-overseas grows, the USP of these schoolsthat they provide the ultimate genuine "British" educationwill start to diminish, and that growing numbers could reach a sort of tipping point where the schools start to seem less attractive.

There's another thread running at the moment about the voucher/assisted place scheme that ISC came up with.

One point for that thread to repeat here:

There is, as the law stands, no way to just 'remove' charitable status. The only legal way to do it requires the no-longer-a-charity organisation to sell all assets held by the charity at full market value and the revenue raises must then be donated to another charity with a similar aim.

There is no way to turn charitable assets into privately held ones (charter for abuse if there were).

So in calling for the ending of charitable status, you are actually requesting the closure of those schools.

meditrina an act of parliament could be passed to deal with this specific issue for schools alone. If the political will is there then the law as it stands need not be a barrier.

Yes, it could. But right now there hasn't been one, and I have never seen any proposal for what one could look like.

A top private school that are completely inaccessible to 93% of the U.K. Population regardless of intelligence. Many families would struggle to afford the uniform yet alone the fees.

These schools want to help the gifted poor and they need to get the money from somewhere. If mr super rich is able to pay more then why not? Schools don't run on air. Any admissions system is going to upset someone. In the 16th century the super rich used to subsidise places for the gifted poor.

Most boarding schools work hard to ensure they don't have more than 30% foreign students and that those come from a variety of countries, so that their USP of a 'British' education is maintained. So if they are going to offer a maximum of 5 places to pupils from China or Russia, and the school is only just breaking even and UK parents can't afford higher fees, then getting more money from a group who have it is the only way to stay in business.

I think that if foreigners are going to be charged more for places then it needs to be more open and transparent. It's no secret that it's easier for an English student to obtain a place at a top Scottish university than a Scottish or eu student.

I feel comfortable with money going to consultancies. The schools themselves need to band together to manage overseas admissions.

Really that's interesting! DD got into a Russell Group Scottish University through clearing and is surrounded by students who did much better at their Highers than she did at her As. I put it down to Highers being taken a year earlier...

I am not so certain about the accuracy of the article. In my personal experience most private schools are fighting for new students just like any other business has to for new customers. There is only 20 or so schools in England that the article could be relevant to and if any "extra" money does change hands, I suspect its mostly drained by so called "educational advisors".

For the record there are a lot of expensive schools in Switzerland such as Le Rosey that would happily take your money and register your DC without requiring additional donations or straight A's. They even provide a helipad and winter term in Gstaad just so you don't have to compromise on skiing so why would anyone donate 1m to get their DC in a mediocre school in the top 100 league?

How is it surprising that schools you pay for accept money? The new library/hockey pitch/lab block has to come from somewhere.

Particularly if the money that would have gone on paying for that could then go on means-blind admissions for local children.

How is it news? Millfield definitely was doing it 20+ years ago... would be surprised if any but the most academic schools didn't...

Folded t-shirt, there is a cap on the numbers of places for Scottish students at Scottish universities so competition among scottish applicants has gone up and driven up the grades required, for instance at St Andrews @20% of scottish applicants get a place as opposed to over 40% of rUK applicants. It's the negative flip-side of the free tuition and is little known in England, it's nothing to do with Highers as the vast majority of Scottish uni applicants now stay on at school after Highers and do at least some Advanced Highers ( an A at advanced Higher is equivalent to an A* at A-Level).
In summary an English student can get onto a course at a Scottish uni with lower grades than a Scottish student; poor DS2 is only 15 and is having to slog his guts out revising for his highers as he needs at least four A's, probably 5 in one go to get into his first choice!

From observing goings on at my local independant school any extra money gets spent on buildings rather than bursaries ( they have one measly bursary for a local child).

wiggly thank you. That's interesting, there don't seem to be many English students on DD's course- predominantly Scottish and a good handful of Europeans. She's definitely punching above her weight and coping, but it does seem unfair for more local students.

Most English students don't want the extra costs of studying in Scotland for 4 years instead of three. Scotland is a long way from home for many English people.

English students are often exempt the first year of Scottish undergraduate degrees, aren't they?
My brother's offers were all to start yet two.

FYI fees are capped at 3 years for English students doing Scottish degrees- still need an extra year of living expenses.

But she'll come out with a Masters fwiw