scholarship

[pacbe]

Hi
Does anyone know the amount or % of academic scholarship any good independent school offers? I looked at websites of couple of schools (only for example) and it mentions amount like £400 per annum ( St pauls). I did checked couple more and used this one as example only
I was under the impression that given the situation and academic results, the scholarship will be generally in range of 20 – 30%. Can someone me know if this is right understanding or am I missing something?

Can someone please let me know if this is right understanding or am I missing something?

Very variable can be in name only no financial benefits just additional opportunities in school. If the school wants the student enough they may offer a bursary.

Yes but you have to understand that schools use them to lure pupils they want. If you have a bright dc they might get scholarships from less academic schools but not the top schools. Once you are into the league of the top schools your dc needs to be mega bright, this means they will get offers from more than 1 school that competes to attract them. Often if it's a choice between a handful of scholarships offers and a grammar place and the grammar will win. What I'm trying say for the top schools that same dc will get several scholarship offers.

At all the schools we applied to the value of the scholarship was minimal, if anything. The most on offer was 10% or free music / art / drama lessons. All the schools offered bursaries though to “top up” the value of the scholarship so that the school was within financial reach.

Some children had 100% of fees paid through a combination of scholarships and bursaries.

Dd has one for 20%. If she had been at The Prep she could have got 50%
The school gives out around 4 a year

To clarify, scholarships are based purely on merit / achievement. Bursaries are awarded on the basis of financial need.

When my dd did 11+ she was offered three scholarships at three different London day schools - 50% annual fee reduction at the school that most people would consider to be the “ least academic”, 25% annual fee reduction at another and a one off payment of £500 at the other. The latter school said In their offer letter that they preferred to put their money into bursaries based on financial need and that scholarships were more honorary in status. It will really depend on the school. Try searching their websites or phoning the bursars.

DS had one and it was £1000 per year. Didn't change his whole school life. By the time he left school fees were £19K a year.

To be honest, most scholarships are merely tokens to try to encourage brighter pupils to the school, not fund all their fees. Most schools are now working harder to provide fully-funded bursaries which are means tested.

my DC were offered several academic scholarships from different schools. one is 10% off, the others are 25% off, 1K per a year, so it depends on each school.

OP what do you mean by I was under the impression that given the situation and academic results

What situation?

As others have said, if you're interested in an independent school but can't afford the fees, you need to be looking at means tested bursaries as well as scholarships. (Any school that offers them consistently will publicise them on their website.)

It sounds as if you've already established that your son is at a level to be a scholarship candidate?

DDs school offers up to 10% academic scholarship, and up to 100% bursary for existing students with change of circumstance.

tends to be the least academic will offer up to 50%.

20-30% is also quite common . where are you looking? If you want St Pauls/Westminster etc then quite a lot of scholarships are honorary with the funding reserved for bursaries

My daughter was offered a 10% off fees scholarship at one of the schools this year. I know someone who was offered 50% off fees, but that was a few years ago

Depends on the school. 20-25 percent is possible at some selective schools but at many it’s a token only. Really high discounts for academic scholarships aren’t that common at selective schools in London at least.

A true academic scholarship is purely merit-based; the child of a billionaire is eligible for one. As PP have stated, at least around London, the most over-subscribed schools have shifted financial resources from academic scholarships to need-based bursaries, as they have no need to offer sweeteners to attract strong students.

We applied to 4 selective schools (Surrey area) for our eldest this year and all of them offered academic scholarships, ranging from 10% to 30%.

We're rather surprised since our prep told us that for two of the schools "a place was not guaranteed" since "it gets more competitive each year". Yet somehow our child then gets a scholarship at both of them. We're now wondering if most children get some sort of scholarship i.e. they just artificially raise the fees and then use a scholarship to bring the price back down.