Would private schools expect us to remortgage before offering a bursary?

[Tootandcomeinagain]

Hi - seen a lot here about bursaries and wondered if anyone has remortgaged for school fees - we live in a 700K home (all paid off) in London. Salaries 90K gross. Potential school fees are 12K a term so 72K a year for 2. Would we qualify for a part bursary or would we be expected to remortgage? Do they look at the home first? Id be interested in any bursar views as there have been a few posting?

https://www.pepf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/InvestigatingBursaries_PEPFReport_010425-1.pdf

I do say ‘had’. He left two weeks ago.

Very smart. Congratulations on the fee remissions plus the scholarships. You must be very proud.

I am proud of him, yes. I’m just sharing my own personal experience. ☺️

Wow, that’s nasty. You have made some extraordinary assumptions there. I merely gave you an example of a child of a member of staff who is not below standard academically. I’m sorry that didn’t fit with your narrative.

I’m now off to look after my severely disabled child who my scholarship-winning son is a life-long carer to.

In all the schools I am aware of, any staff discount is only given if the child has passed the entrance exams.

Not to mention that with teacher's likely salaries, they'd be eligible for bursaries anyway in our area of the country!

Please stop this spite now.

Which happen to be set by the staff (friends) of the staff candidate.

Absolutely, but, it should not be a blanket perk. The child should sit bursary assessment academic criteria and means test eligibility. This is not happening in (many) selective schools.

Topic was selective independent not SEN. A fast change of perspective above once called out. 40,000 families have had to leave as bursaries inflating fees are out of control. Fact.

Don't be silly.

Children with SEN can be bright enough to pass selective exams for MS schools. The issue is usually whether they would be prepared to make adjustments for such children in other areas.

I have no knowledge on SEN

This thread is about bursary and I can confirm

At point of admission the staff who are “assessing” candidates “results” absolutely can bump their colleagues friends and family ahead of a family who scored higher.

Independents manage their own finance (internally) admissions (internally).

That has nothing to do with this thread.

A person requesting advice on bursary with a £700k asset and being told to go for it…. 😐

Is the thread.

The debate opened up to discuss unsustainable bursary, highlighting potential corruption in Independent school finance departments. OP is only one of many which is what caught the attention “cheek” of the topic.

@Tootandcomeinagain is a cheeky sausage

She's absolutely not. If you read the full thread, it's very clear she has little disposable income and as everyone with access to Google can find out a £700K house in London within striking distance of good private schools is a very modest house indeed.

If you’ve paid your mortgage off then why does that make you entitled to a bursary, paid for by full-fee paying parents who probably still have mortgages?!

Bursaries are for those who have limited or no assets. They aren’t to subsidise the lives of already well off people (and if you’re able to live in London and have paid off your mortgage you fit that criteria.).

That is just not our experience, we have 4 children in selective london day school, and have only been aware of a handful of children of member of staff and they are all very deserving of their places in their own rights.
moreover if I was running a school and the child of a valued member of staff applied and I can honestly that I would look at their application closely and look for any reason to offer a place, excellent staff should be retained there is just no way around it and of course everyone benefits from excellent staff!

Criteria for bursaries will vary between schools. They often look at disposable income rather than assets. In the schools that I have direct personal experience of, your house is only relevant if it is considerably larger than needed or it's a second home.

Just because you don't agree with this doesn't mean it's unfair.

I’m not saying I disagree with it - all schools have their own criteria - at the end of the day they can offer what they want to whomever they want without ever having to explain themselves.. And that’s fine.

But I do think it’s out of touch to assume that you are worthy of charity on a £90k income with a paid mortgage. And the schools I know of definitely wanted details of whether you had paid your mortgage off and whether you had any savings.

Although bursaries are means tested, usually a child that’s talented will stand more chance of receiving one than an average student so that would also factor into the decision making.

Almost nobody considers themselves rich or well off. People always want more.

I don’t think food is the key . I think speaking more than 1 language is the key.

your logic is like : rich people wipe bum with wet wipe . so if now today I use wet wipe then I will be rich on my way to buy a Ferrari .

If you look upthread, OP says that she spends £50 a week on food for an adult and two children, and that it's very tight and she's in her overdraft. This is because she is currently spending the majority of her income on school fees, even with bursaries.

Does that sound like someone in the lap of luxury to you?

The schools I know of also wanted details of mortgages and property owned. But it did not seem to make much difference if a lot of the mortgage was paid off, as long as the house was not much larger than needed or a second property.