Bursary Application

[samsub]

HelloI am just going through the form for DS's senior school Bursary application and it asks:" Please explain any reasons why net assets cannot be converted or utilised to pay school fees."Yes in our case our only asset which has some "net" in the property (although we do have some savings (for a rainy day) which is not sufficient to pay for the entire senior school period). We recently bought our first property and there is no question of re-mortgaging the house to release equity to pay the school fees.I am not sure how the Bursar would look into our finances, but we have kept aside £40k in our savings. We have kept a portion of these savings aside, one reason is to fund non routine travel costs arising from medical emergency and ad-hoc medical expenses to support my mother who lives overseas. This may be due to hospitalisation or general age related ailment (She is 73 year old). I have allowed three routine overseas trips in a year and making it clear in my application that these are necessary trips to ensure my mom's well being. Do you think it will go against us.We recently bought our first house 3 months ago, and the equity in the house is 30%. Again, will this work against our application.I am trying to articulate in the best way possible to answer the above question.Any thoughts will be high appreciated

This just shows how different it is in different areas and for different schools. My daughter's school explicitly says you can earn up to £110K before you are ineligible for a bursary (obviously at £110K this is going to be a smaller amount). £50K would probably see you eligible for a full bursary since in no world would it be possible to pay more than a small percentage of the £30K fees on this income. But obviously living costs are somewhat different here than in the north west as we are in London, and schools do look at eg mortgage/rent costs and other outgoings as well as income.

@YireosDodeAver I've no idea as I've never looked to apply for one. It's just an open discussion in our area around Yr6 that almost no one gets a bursary in our immediate area as most are above thresholds. The schools don't publish their sliding scales. They just say eg above £60k you won't be eligible at all but below £15k joint income you'd get full

In our school (top ranking independent with fees circa £18k a year in the Midlands) if you have family assessable income and assessable assets (which can include equity in property) of £72k, you are not eligible for any bursary. There's a sliding scale and it's published. To get 100% you need total assessable family finances of less than £24k. Given the OP's £40k "rainy day fund", family income would need to be very low indeed to qualify. It's also renewable every year and they say they may use external assessors to visit homes to double check that information has been provided correctly. There is also no discount for siblings. Quite a few kids leave at sixth form stage (higher fees) because their bursaries are not renewed or are reduced.

Quite frankly I'd be extremely cross if I was paying higher school fees to fund bursaries for people with more cash sitting in their savings account than I have. Our school is quite up front about the fact that various of the things we have to pay out for generate income for funding bursaries.

You have to consider the fact that lots of the fee paying parents won’t have £40k in savings and 30% equity. They will be living hand-to-mouth to pay the fees. Schools therefore cannot give bursaries to those who apply, who simply want to avoid paying fees but could afford to pay fees.

The reality is that bursaries are in a sliding scale. When they are offered, it’s rarely a case of either 100% offered or nothing,as a result of OP’s info.

Someone with the savings and equity OP has who has earnings within the threshold (as mentioned, can be up to £100k) might still qualify for something. However, it won’t be much and a big proportion of fees will remain payable.

OP might be hopi g for a large bursary. A small one might be offered but that could easily mean £20k of fees still needed each year. It’s why many many people who apply and who are offered something, don’t take it up, becaus the amount of the bursary simply isn’t enough.

Stand terms on bursary application forms are ‘bursaries are not confident with sizeable savings, second homes, significant equity, significant home improvements or frequent travel abroad’

Many paying full fees can’t afford these things. Bursaries are not there to enable people to pay less fees so they can still afford these things.

That said, some equity, savings and holidays etc are considered fine.

it's on the high side, but London day fees are currently upwards of £8k per term, so £25k per year - it won't be long before they are at £30k .

We are in London. Sorry, did see this and forgot to reply. The total is not quite £30K but it is only a few hundred away from that figure.

This reflects the consumer surplus not the actual cost. Indeed, some parents in London are ready to spend more than 30k a year for day schools.

And conversely schools may give bursaries to get bums on seats

A private school which isn't oversubscribed is probably financially struggling and won't have the cash for bursaries.

@androidnotapple yes and if they can give a discount and get someone on 75% fees it's better than an empty chair. One school near me is advertising a LOT on social media. On another thread someone said they struggling

There was a whole thread recently about financial struggles of the private schools and how they merge with other school or close their operation

I guess so. Not sure I'd want to join a school having those sorts of issues.

@androidnotapple no no one would but you'd never really know who is on a bursary and who is not. I know of of one family at that same school who told someone they'd got a bursary when they'd defo be over the advertised threshold.. but would be in the middle bracket I referred to

Why would you want your child in a school that had to offer massive cash incentives to get applicants?

@CurlewKate you'd not know though.
Plenty of smaller private schools have gone pop without parents seeing it coming

The school may well still offer you a bursary as £40k savings and a third ownership of a house is not considered wealthy. They may just offer you a lower percentage of discount, meaning you'd need to dip into your savings (depending on your salaries). Our children's boarding school is £45k, we receive a 30% discount. Schools offer a range of discounts to increase the range of pupils. It isn't just children from very wealthy and very poor families, more of a blend.
Obviously it depends on the school though.

I’ve just gone through the bursary process for year 9 2024 entry. DS is looking to go in on a rugby scholarship augmented by a bursary. We own a healthy business and are in the ‘not poor enough, not rich enough’ category but have had a go anyhow.
I can say that after the bursary interview, you would be expected to release the £40k towards fees.

They wouldn’t get a bursary with £40k savings. I’ve just done the bursary process.

You see, unless @samsub is able to name the school (even the general area might help) and finds someone who has been through the process with the same school and in a similar position all this is useless because it's anecdotal and specific to the schools involved.

I have been through the bursary process with a similar (somewhat larger) amount of savings and with greater equity in my house (much greater percentage and almost certainly a larger amount of money unless the OP is also in London) and we were awarded a generous bursary.

It is very interesting as I hear a lot of people on here saying that bursaries aren't good enough, they don't fulfil the purpose of a charity and people are expected to pare their assets to the bone to pay for fees which has not been our experience at all. But if some schools are honestly saying that this relatively small amount (not small for the average person but almost certainly tiny compared to the families who are able to pay for these schools from their own income) precludes a bursary then I can totally see why people get fed up. We are, it seems, fortunate that DD's school does not believe that families should be worse off as a result of receiving a bursary for their child.

The only advice that is really helpful with bursaries (it's too late for the OP but just in case anyone is reading this in future or wondering about next year) is that anyone looking to benefit from a bursary would be well advised to contact the bursar of the school well in advance and ask for a meeting to discuss in detail what might be available, and make decisions based on having disclosed a reasonable amount of financial information.

This is totally school dependent. A very close friend of mine has a 50% bursary for a top boys school in London. They have more than 40k in savings.

The bursary policy can change annually, even for the same school. Hence, it is better to speak to the bursar directly and also plan ahead.

You can’t name the school as it will affect your application.

These threads are usually not helpful as no one here can truly say how the school would treat your application. It’s very much dependent on each individual schools budget and some are more generous than others.

As an aside I went to the Independent Good Schools show this weekend and they had a really interesting talk about bursaries, how they work and what is factored into the decision making process. Their Bursary consultant as well as a couple of deputy heads of various schools had a rough guide of 75-125k as a combined income. If you’re above that you’re highly unlikely to get anything. Equally they will look at the value of your house particularly in the south east, where property prices have been high the last decade and there would be an expectation to release equity if it’s substantial. If you own a second property, forget it! There are all manner of things that come into play, if you never ask, you won’t get. A friend recently got 100% bursary for her child, so it is definitely possible.

I work in a private school and have dealt with bursary applications. The fund at our school
contains no government funds. I think that funding disappeared a very long time ago.