Independent schools bursaries and non-resident parent's income.

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

Are a non-resident parent's earnings taken under consideration when a resident parent applies for a bursary? What happens when the NRP doesn't want to cooperate, earns too much or doesn't want to disclose his earnings? Do the school accept only the income disclosure of the RP or there is no point in going ahead with the potential bursary application?

Depends on the circumstances. Parent in other country, rarely seen and not really contributing normally then go for it. Parent lives down the road earning £250k a year, sees child 50% of the time and actively involved in the child’s life then it will raise eyebrows but you should still discuss with the bursar.

Most schools require the signature of both parents on the admissions application though. You can get round it, but again talk to the school. If only you sign it then only you are liable for fees.

None of this is clear cut - the bursar is the best person to advise.

I am in this position. Ex H only earns £30,000 per annum and contributes minimum allowed.
In the bursary forms it asked for all my income so I put his contribution. There is a bit for notes so I just wrote that he would not consider contributing more.
It did say that if I was married to someone (ie Dd had a step father) then his income would be taken into consideration, but weren't interested in ex H.
Hope that helps. Obviously it's only one school and I don't know if this is standard.

Thank you, Zodle and Iris. That's very helpful. Main thing is that it seems there might be some flexibility/possibility that each decision is taken on case by case basis and there isn't a blank rule like for getting a passport for example. I know it will depend on the given school but just wanted to get a rough idea before letting my mind wander further!

No problem @DrinkFeckArseGirls (great username BTW) What I was told was if they want your child(not necessarily just becuase they are academic) they will give them a bursary. I know DD's school takes into account the whole picture, so how much your house is worth too. eg. if you have a smaller income but your house is worth £2,000,000 then you would not get a bursary. But I know not all of them work like this. I know of two other bursaries at the school (there are lots more but these are the two I know of) one child competes internationally at a sport, and one is ethnic minority (very 'white' area so not many at school. Her mum thinks this worked in her favour, especially as she is always in prospectus, front of house at open days etc.) so it is not just being relatively poor or being academic that work in a child's favour. DD is bright which worked in her favour. However, she was at all tutored for entrance and went to state primary (so was gearing towards SATS rather than 11+, very different). I have also been told that schools take that into account when looking at entrance exams, and can often tell the very bright children from the very tutored ones. I hope that all makes sense!

Sorry, meant to saw she wasn't tutored for exam!

I am guessing it very much depends on the school and level of bursary being applied for. We applied and got a bursary alongside scholarship for my Y9 son without any info being required about his dad (NRP - lives locally, has the children 3/14 nights, high earner).

When he was awarded the scholarship his dad said that he was happy for him to attend, but did not want to sign or disclose anything, including the acceptance and scholarship forms, to avoid liability. We have a very amicable situation, so I was just completely honest with the school about that and it was fine. I signed them and my now H signed them too, and ex-H had to write a letter confirming he was happy and supportive for son to attend the school.

In terms of the bursary application we completed this with both mine and H's financial info. They were not interested in ex-H's finances at all, apart from the child maintenance being included as part of my income as you would expect.

Obviously I can't say for sure, but it might have made a difference that we were a) not asking for a full bursary, and b) as he had already been offered an academic scholarship they obviously wanted (for want of a better word) my son in the first place.