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?

@Tootandcomeinagain I used to audit bursary applications and yes, having a £700k asset owned outright would be taken into account in a bursary assessment and I am always amazed by people who think it wouldn’t be.

It’s not a straightforward yes or no though. A whole raft of other things are taken into consideration such as how much are you contributing to your pension. Yes, we would expect you to pay the minimum required for your scheme, but making overpayments is seen as spare cash that could be going towards fees.

We would review your bank and credit card statements to see where your salary is going. Do you have big repayments on a fancy car loan and could drive a cheaper car? One family had payments to EasyJet every half term. Turns out they were flying to Europe to stay in the £3m Villa they owned jointly with two siblings after inheriting it but they failed to declare it as they didn’t think “it counted”. No they didn’t get a bursary.

There has also been a bit of a shift with bursaries where some schools are now tying them to scholarships. So you are only considered for a bursary if you excel in a scholarship area. They are moving to protect funds to support those already in the school who might be facing hardship - so they can finish the school year or if in the middle of GCSEs or A-levels then their education can be completed. They are also offering smaller bursaries to more people. Better to have four students paying 75% of fees than one paying zero.

Whilst no bursar would tell you to remortgage your property, what they will do is make some calculations that take into account the equity. At some schools they would assess only half the amount though - a 50% loan to property value is seen as reasonable. So the calculations would say you have £350k in assets you could access, not the full £700k. They would then make you on offer that takes it into account and it’s up to you to work out how you make it work financially.

Honestly though, I don’t think you can afford it. I’m not talking about putting money aside for them to buy houses etc when they are older instead. Just normal day to day life with two sets of secondary school private fees on top.

@RatherBeOnVacation thank you - this is very insightful. We have no car, very few holidays abroad ever - a very frugal life, but lucky enough to have paid our mortgage off. Remortgaging is a big step and will need to think hard about this.

@Tootandcomeinagainof course your decision is yours to make but I would say that if you’re already living such a frugal life, you won’t be able to pay to have your children fully participate in the education you aspire to for them.

After my divorce I couldn’t aspire to private education for my child. I’m sure it does have a depth and breadth that state cannot hope to achieve. I saw what friends’ children were doing at private and it was impressive.

BUT I earn reasonably well and over the years have paid privately for music tutors, specific subject tutors, I’ve taken her to different countries, to see Shakespeare, to the ballet. I was able to afford school trips abroad.

How will you deliver this cultural capital as a happy family if you’re scraping around for money? Do you not want to enjoy your children’s childhood yourself?