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Secondary education

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Original poster

Lying on Bursary application

71 replies

Secondarypissed · 07/01/2019 12:24

Some one we know lied on their Bursary application for private school application. They rent a place for application while there main home is some where else. What would you do. We applied the same schools and are expected to pay the full fee.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 07/01/2019 12:25

Were you happy to pay the full fee before you knew this? Would them paying the full fee make it any cheaper for you?
If not then forget it

Hersetta427 · 07/01/2019 12:42

bursary are based on assets and income - did they lie about salary too? What sort of bursary did they get?

To be honest though its not going to make any difference to whether you pay full fees or not so you either tip off the school or you leave it be.

meditrina · 07/01/2019 12:47

It diesnMt actually matter whether you are an applicant or not.

It's a question of your integrity. You have reason to suspect someone is acting dishonestly, and thus depriving someone else of what should be theirs. You can stop this happening.

Or you can remain silent, which means your choice (your silence) is to support the fraud.

Your call

Original poster
Secondarypissed · 07/01/2019 12:54

The moral and ethical issues are eating me, I thought of letting go earlier. I dont know any other details rather than the lie. The school visitted the different address and the child said "we live in a flat now" however we all know among our circle that their family home hasnt changed.

OP posts:
Sicario · 07/01/2019 12:54

Some people have no shame about loop-holing and "playing the system" whether it's to do with benefits, bursaries or any other form of personal gain. They should all be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Here's a classic - very wealthy friends who applied for full university grants for their children on the basis that they have no income (because they don't need to work). "Well why not?" she said, "It's free money." Yes, they got the grants.

You go right ahead and pay the full fees like you're supposed to. And know that you can sleep at night with a clear conscience. I hate liars and cheats.

AveEldon · 07/01/2019 12:54

How do you know they lied?

Original poster
Secondarypissed · 07/01/2019 13:23

One of the schools visited the flat as thought it was the main home. Regardless the reasons on the background the attention was cheating by creating a situation to gain a bursary place.

OP posts:
Rudi44 · 07/01/2019 22:52

I don’t understand how this helps a bursary application, they would still be checking income and expenditure

crimsonhair · 07/01/2019 22:56

maybe that bursary is based on main address of where child resides, maybe they want to create impression that they are poorer than in fact they are
maybe they live to fat for the school to accept child at that age

without the knowledge of admission process we can't help, we can only speculate

shame that it's likely that some other deserving child will miss on that bursary, not necessary OP's dc

giftsonthebrain · 08/01/2019 01:22

i'd have no problem mentioning it to the head or who ever the appropriate person is. lying is not cool.

Redskyandrainbows67 · 08/01/2019 03:10

Report it to the head. It’s fraud imo.

Racecardriver · 08/01/2019 03:16

How would that make a difference?

FlyingMonkeys · 08/01/2019 03:21

I can understand this for hitting a catchment area but not a bursary? Are the parents saying they've separated to reduce a combined income?

Justagirlwholovesaboy · 08/01/2019 03:25

I would stay out of it without knowing all the facts

giftsonthebrain · 08/01/2019 03:26

Lying is wrong whether it makes a “difference” or not.

FanDabbyFloozy · 08/01/2019 03:27

It sounds like they are claiming to rent so that they don’t have to declare the equity in their home. Most independent schools would expect equity to be drawn down before granting a bursary.

I don’t even know how you would tell the school though, in a way that isn’t traced back to you!

giftsonthebrain · 08/01/2019 03:30

schools like social workers can be very professional about confidentiality and if they look at their finances close enough they may find two home owner insurance policies, a mortgage payment along with the rent payment etc.
just mention the home and let them do the digging.

ninalovesdragons · 08/01/2019 04:03

I would anonymously report it to the school for sure. It's fraud and it's depriving another child of an education that could transform their life

peteneras · 08/01/2019 07:53

"We applied the same schools and are expected to pay the full fee."

Put it simply, by lying on a bursary application form is trying to obtain money by deception. Put it more simply, by trying to obtain money by deception is a criminal offence in any jurisdiction you care to name. As for those who say people who defraud the system has nothing to do with the OP who are expected to pay the full fee, I have a question for you:

Where do you think the money in the school's bursary pot come from?

A clue: For sure, they don't drop from the sky!

So, those who say cheats don't affect the full fee-paying parents in independent schools I'm afraid to say, you don't have a clue how the independent sector works. Other than a very, very small handful of premier name (boys') independents whose bursary pots are topped up by the schools' foundation and kind donations made by alumni benefactors, etc. all other independent schools' bursary pots are predominantly topped up by full fee-paying parents. So that you know (for the anti private schools brigade), the independent parent(s) is/are paying three times for their child's education - once for their child's fee; another to top up the bursary pot for other people's fee; and the third to subsidise the nation's children in state schools via their taxes!

AnotherNewt · 08/01/2019 09:48

Transfer of current revenue to bursary fund is very rare (would be obvious in accounts).

It is not routine for current fee paying parents to be contributing to the bursary fund, other than by participating in the (sometImes extensive) find-raising for it.

If OP wants to find out how it works in this school, then I suggest she looks at the accounts (companies house for businesses, charity commission for charities - both school itself if it is a charity, and the (normally separate) foundation for awards, invariably charities IME but they don't have to be)

TJsAunt · 08/01/2019 11:14

I'd definitely report it.

Not only are they pushing fees up by lying, they've also deprived a deserving child of a their bursary place.

cakeisalwaystheanswer · 08/01/2019 12:21

United Learning which is a huge chain of schools include a compulsory bursary charge as part of the fees. It used to be £250 per term but that was quite a few years ago so it will be higher now. I would also expect GDST bursaries to be significantly funded by existing parents because girls schools have never attracted the same level of donation that boys schools have because it is only fairly recently that women have been able to have the kind of careers that would enable them to do so. The Equal Pay Act was only introduced in 1970.

BubblesBuddy · 08/01/2019 12:50

Of course schools can transfer fees to bursary funds! Very many schools do this. It is true that many schools have to take money from few income to boost the bursary pot. It’s wrong to say otherwise.

eurochick · 08/01/2019 12:53

Is distance a criterion for the award of the bursary?

GeorgeTheHippo · 08/01/2019 12:57

You might be able to get confirmation of ownership from the land registry online, I think it is a matter of public record