100% bursary award

[wishthebest4DD]

My DD received an offer with a 100% bursary award for her year 7 entry in September. It feels like the dream comes true but I understand that the award is subject to an annual review of parents financial situation.

Can anyone advise whether they have experienced a situation that the school withdrew the award or reduced the amount significantly in the following years?

Grateful for any advice!

I can't answer your question but I can give some sideways knowledge. My best friend was in this position and they managed to stay 100% right though. However, they had no idea of the impact of having their dd in this type of school and the extra expenses were immense. Think Bat Mizvahs in Monaco over the weekend & needing to find money for hotels & flights. And birthdays where the whole class were invited were standard. The additional hidden costs were staggering. Please bear this in mind.

My DS had this and it was only in 6th Form when I was earning significantly more that I had to contribute, and given I was earning more it was all ok!

Well done to your DD.

ive been amazed that employers have looked very favourably to the bursary award, he’s 21 now and just about to start his dream job!

However, they had no idea of the impact of having their dd in this type of school and the extra expenses were immense. Think Bat Mizvahs in Monaco over the weekend & needing to find money for hotels & flights. And birthdays where the whole class were invited were standard. The additional hidden costs were staggering.

Absolutely not compulsory. In nearly a decade of 100% bursary awards my family member never once had to pay for any such extravagant trip - either curricular or social. And that was at two of the most famous prep and public schools in the country.

@wishthebest4DD Yes, the bursary award will be reviewed annually, but it won’t be reduced unless you have a significant increase in your income, assets, or investments. This should all be set out clearly in the paperwork - which you will have had to sign. In my experience no bursary award has been reduced. I can’t comment on any other family’s experience.

Congratulations to you and your daughter. Please don’t worry. Clearly the school very much wants her to be able to attend. They absolutely will not want you to suffer in order to keep her there. If you’re capable of getting this far you’re capable of declining any ridiculous expense that is beyond your budget. Just make normal, sensible decisions.

Q1. If I raise the funds this year by remortgaging my home ( I think I'd only get enough to cover <1 year of fees) and get my daughter in to the most selective school, could they review my financial position from next year onwards if I reapplied for a bursary once in the school?

Do not do this. Schools take an extremely dim view of parents who attempt to game the system by deliberately joining a school in full knowledge that they cannot pay the fees going forward. Bursaries offered while a child is already at a school are intended to cover urgent, unexpected changes in financial fortune. In the situation you suggest, attempting to bounce them into awarding a bursary after one year is likely to lead to their suggesting you find another school.

Clearly the non-selective school is hoping your daughter will improve their exam grades - though I’d be surprised if one pupil’s results would completely change the academic profile of a school. (Perhaps they’re using this method to attract several potentially high achieving children?)

PS - you should really start your own thread, @Reach4stars, to avoid derailing @wishthebest4DD‘s. Interestingly similar usernames … 🤔

There’s no real need - but you can ask MNHQ via the Report button next to the post.

It depends on the school. At DD's school and the associated boys school, I have known full bursary children get money towards trips and uniform. The girl in her class was also given an envelope with £5 in to participate in the class secret Santa.

The bursary amount will only change if your financial circumstances change. For example, if you had a huge pay rise then your bursary amount would be reduced accordingly. You would be no worse off financially but you wouldn’t get tue benefit of the pay rise.

Note that normal inflationary pay rises don’t tend to affect bursary awards.

You’ll also tend to find that each year there is only a small review but at the big entry points like sixth form then they would do a full in depth review again.

I used to audit bursary applications.

Thank you everyone for the sharing their advice and most useful comments. 🥰

Congratulations to your DD it is difficult to achieve a full bursary at competitive schools but please read the small print and be careful.
At some schools the bursary can be withdrawn if expectations are not met. I experienced several full bursary students being "invited to withdraw" as their results were not up to standard as O levels in those days drew close, it was horrible at A levels as friends who were super intelligent at 11 began to struggle as late teenagers. One girl even had her bus fare withdrawn by the headmistress to encourage her to leave as she clearly was only going to get B's at best, I know she self harmed but nobody cared it was all about results.
Your DD's achievement is tremendous but just check out if it is fully funded from the point of nothing changing from the schools stance.

Great for your DD! I do think it's relevant tho to budget for hidden costs. And accept that there may be a lot of trips you can't afford, going on our local schools. £2k ski trips, Europe tours etc

People’s experiences during the O’ Level era are largely irrelevant. (These days even full fee payers have to meet a school’s GCSE standards to proceed to the sixth form.)

It is perfectly normal for most pupils not to go on the ski trip or foreign tours.

Congratulations on your bursary.

It's not my experience at our school that most students don't go on trips. Most don't go on the ski trip but for the year group subject trips they all seem to go. We had a GCSE geography trip to Iceland last year and there were 98 pupils on the trip. 101 did GCSE geography in the cohort and the 3 that didn't go had previous family engagements already.

So you can still get kicked out then if you're not up to standard having paid over a hundred grand ?

Bet about seven did Physics, Maths and Chemistry but we're rubbish at skiing.

Yes of course, you cant buy exam results...

My friend's son lost his bursary unexpectedly at the end of year 10

Yes that's correct at our school. Five years at £25k/year and if child doesn't get the required minimum grades for GCSE they can't continue to the sixth form. I think it's min 7 for chosen subjects.

Well private schools do by offering bursaries to the most intelligent, even at sixth form, kick the rubbish ones out and pay for the best comp kids to go.
Get straight A's which they would have done anyway, looks good on the school prospectus. It's a business for goodness sake just look at the Uni destinations of private schools, Psychology at Liverpool is the most common at my local one.
Nothing wrong with that as a degree but if you think it's worth a hundred grand and your local comp can't provide it I urge you to rethink before the Uni costs kick in.
Even if your not paying.

One of the boys on my DD's class on a full bursary left after year 7 because it was withdrawn. He went on to one of the most awful schools in the area. So something to consider before you choose the school.

Thank goodness for a sensible and experienced response, it happens more than you can know.

Why would a full bursary be suddenly withdrawn after a year?

All bursaries are subject to annual reviews. That's made clear.

Yes but it’s also made clear that the bursary will continue throughout the child’s time at the school unless there are ‘significant’ changes in the family’s financial situation. I guess behaviour/ academic issues are also (usually) relevant to the bursary continuation