'Please indicate what sacrifices you have made or will be making in order to contribute towards school fees.'

[thirdistheonewiththehairychest]

We are applying for a bursary for dd to attend a nearby private school as our local state school is terrible and she's bright enough to get in with a scholarship/bursary combination. The school has bursaries specifically available for bright local kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford the fees. That's us. There is no way in a million years that we would afford it otherwise and I have no idea how to answer the question in the title of this thread, which we are required to fill in on the form.

• We already run an incredibly tight budget (shop in aldi, rely on hand-me-downs, cut our own hair etc)
• We live in the dodgy end of town with virtually no scope to downsize to another area. Any move would likely make us worse off!
• We have virtually no savings, just enough to cover emergency scenarios
• We never holiday abroad. Even when we holiday in the UK it usually involves staying with relatives/friends to keep the cost down
• We drive one crappy car with all the challenges that entails (breakdowns, kids relying on public transport on the days I take the car to work)

Is there anything I've missed?

The only thing that they might pick up on is that we give a lot to charity (at least it's a lot in proportion to what we have). We're Christians and believe strongly that it's our moral duty to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. Might this be identified by the admissions department as an unnessary expense on our part?

I'm struggling to know what other things they might expect us to do?

Unless they actually ask for your bank statements or a verified financial statement they won't know about your charitable giving.

I'm confused. If you are already struggling financially how are you going to afford the portion of school fees not covered by the bursary?

I would say yes, if you do not have the money and are relying on handouts such as a bursary you shouldn't be giving what little you have to charity.

Also, you should be using the money you are giving away to make your own lives a bit better. There's time to donate when you're in a better position yourselves.

You are doing all the things. Holidays, cars, big houses are what they mean. Do both parents work?

The finance office / bursar will make the financial assessment, not the admissions team.

Your answers sound fine. What equity do you have in your house and do you plan to increase that during the duration of the bursary...eg through mortgage payments? Are you paying for private education for any other children? What are you paying into pensions? Do you own valuable antiques or other property including jewellery? Are you both working full.time?

They are the only other things I can think of.

To PP...yes of course bank statements are checked, and home visits undertaken etc

How much are you talking in terms of charitable giving, as a proportion of what you're asking for as a bursary? Accepting a bursary is the same as accepting charity. It's completely up to you how you spend your money, but I don't think a school would view it favourably if you come to them for a hand out because you've given all your money away.

You could always phone the school and ask. They're often surprisingly open and up front about these things.

I think you'll have to give up the charitable giving. They aren't going to like you effectively giving away your money and then saying you haven't got enough money.

Would you want your daughter to go to a school which demanded you stopped giving to charity and gave the money to them instead?

I'm not sure you can accept charity with one hand and give charity with the other without someone questioning why.

You don't sound like you should be choosing private school OP 😩 hopefully you're exaggerating for the app.

Even if 100% fees would be paid, there are so many extra costs beyond just school fees & your kid may begin to resent the lifestyle you have chosen & inevitable pressure you'll then put on them to "achieve".

Don't think charitable giving counts as that's entirely by choice!

Former bursar here and the charitable giving will be excluded from the assessment i.e. if you are donating £5k per annum they will add that back on your disposable income so that they will expect you to contribute that as it is discretionary. To a PP, if it is done properly by an external assessor then it is very thorough and there is no way of hiding expenditure. They will chase if bank statements are missing, as in they can see payments to another account held by same family.

You sound like good candidates for a bursary, but you are choosing to give away a chunk of your income that could otherwise be spent on school fees. In terms of disposable income, it really isn't any different to spending it on clothes, holidays etc. as far as a bursary application is concerned. Whatever you don't pay has to be made up elsewhere, and effectively the other fee-paying parents will be sharing the cost of your child's education. You may have to choose between your charitable giving and paying school fees for your child.

Do you have other children? I am in a similar position to you and live very very frugally which isn’t really fair on the non bursary sibling.

Why can’t you give to the private school in terms of add on to the fees you’re expected to pay as your charitable giving?

Equity in your property - they may expect you to max out your mortgage. I agree that if you are giving away a high proportion of your disposable income then they may consider that you could in fact make a higher contribution to fees. There may be other applicants that do not have that disposable income to give away who may be considered better deserving

@purpleneon most bursaries include uniform, UK trips and one foreign trip in the duration of the bursary. I'm not sure how many people you know who've had one but I know dozens and suggest you don't speak of hidden costs when you can clearly go online and see clearly in writing that most bursaries avoid them. Believe it or not they are actually designed by intelligent people who are very aware of the barriers faced and who wouldn't do something idiotic like inpoverish or stress a family by demanding extra costs.

Many full fee paying parents drive old cars, never holiday abroad and work regular jobs. The difference is they've had an inheritance, or grandparents chip in...So this mythical lifestyle is not the full story.

Is the question double edged? I.e. are they assessing whether you are 'worthy' of the bursary, but also whether you'll be able to pay the bits not covered by the bursary?

[quote Yummypumpkin]@purpleneon most bursaries include uniform, UK trips and one foreign trip in the duration of the bursary. I'm not sure how many people you know who've had one but I know dozens and suggest you don't speak of hidden costs when you can clearly go online and see clearly in writing that most bursaries avoid them. Believe it or not they are actually designed by intelligent people who are very aware of the barriers faced and who wouldn't do something idiotic like inpoverish or stress a family by demanding extra costs.

Many full fee paying parents drive old cars, never holiday abroad and work regular jobs. The difference is they've had an inheritance, or grandparents chip in...So this mythical lifestyle is not the full story.[/quote]
Thanks for flagging this - very interesting.

My old school gave a £500 uniform grant and covered travel during term time, but didn't cover other little extras and various "optional" costs.

Not true re charitable giving. We give to charity (also Christians) and had a means-tested bursary at one point.

I believe it is gross income that will be looked at so the charitable giving will almost certainly be considered to be an expense you could choose to reduce. In any case, to give £X to charity but to then receive £Y from a different charity rather undermines the giving doesn't it?

Lots of independent school websites are very clear about the sort of things that will be looked at for bursary applicants e.g. equity and council tax band of home and whether or not the earning potential of adults in the home has been maximised. Families with a gross income of less than £30,000 and minimal financial assets tend to be the ones that qualify for the maximum bursaries.

Those with significant amounts of equity in their home are expected to release it to cover fees and if that's not possible, may be directed towards a deferred payment plan e.g. EdAid - when we tentatively looked into DC2 attending a specialist school, this is where we ended up. DH and I are teachers, we bought our home in London twenty years ago and our wages had been frozen for about ten of those. Our earning capacity was already maximised and we had significant amounts of equity in our home but couldn't release it to pay fees because our salaries weren't going to increase any time soon. We couldn't guarantee that things would be any different in the future so we didn't let DC2 apply for the specialist school and they're at the local comprehensive.

I would give your contribution to the school - it is a charity after all?

Those with significant amounts of equity in their home are expected to release it to cover fees
Wow, that is not realistic at all! We have a mortgage that will be paid off by age 70, if we release equity it won’t get paid off and then we won’t be able to survive in retirement. Are they expecting you to sell your house and move into rented to afford fees? It sounds like bursaries are only for the super-poor, not for people like myself and OP who are scraping by financially but can’t afford school.

@Magistera I would imagine bursaries should be for those whose parents didn’t have opportunities themselves. But round here it is privately educated parents who know about the bursaries and know how to ‘manage’ their finances to appear eligible. Bit icky. We are rural, might be different in the cities?

@Magistera

Those with significant amounts of equity in their home are expected to release it to cover fees Wow, that is not realistic at all! We have a mortgage that will be paid off by age 70, if we release equity it won’t get paid off and then we won’t be able to survive in retirement. Are they expecting you to sell your house and move into rented to afford fees? It sounds like bursaries are only for the super-poor, not for people like myself and OP who are scraping by financially but can’t afford school.

I'm assuming it's because schools have to demonstrate that their bursary money is giving opportunities to those who really have no other way to access what's on offer. Those of us who have significant equity in our homes do, technically, have an asset that could be released... even if no mortgage company will allow it because our salaries haven't increased, and won't.

It's the same story for lots of things whether that's the London music fund, elite sport programmes or schemes for children gifted in particular academic subjects; those from low income families will be funded to take part and those with high incomes can afford to pay (or are at independent schools and so already have the network and opportunities via that). Those in the middle aren't eligible to apply for the schemes aimed at low income families but also can't access the things offered to the high income families because they are school-based. It's absolutely right that those from low income families are given funded opportunities but it can feel hard to know that your own child is excluded from anything similar because their parents' income is at neither extreme.

If things are so tight I not sure Private is a viable option for you.
DD had a 25% scholarship but we could have sent her even without it and while uniforms dont always cost the earth and you dont have to do the expensive gifts it sounds like unless you have a 100% bursary or scholarship it will be too much for you.
And I agree that it’s unreasonable to expect help from the school if you are paying a large amount to charity. It’s an outgoing, just because it’s more “worthy” than an expensive hobby it is still voluntary.