Private school bursaries

Imposter67

We have just been through the admissions process for a local private school for my son. All the time we were told that we could apply for a bursary when a place was offered. We got a letter offering a place at full fees. When we contacted them for a bursary form, they said all bursaries had been allocated and we did not qualify as our child had not done well enough in the test and that financial circumstances are not the only factor.

When we asked them to clarify the process, they said it is clear from their literature that the test is the criteria for bursaries, despite the phrase "means-tested" appearing several times. I thought a discount for exceptional performance in a test was called a scholarship?

We are middle income and it will be a struggle to pay full fees. Does anyone have any similar experiences with private school bursaries? I am disappointed as I feel the school has not been straight with us or given us a fair chance and it's literature is obfuscatory and misleading. Our financial circumstances are not even being considered.

[Deleted User]

I think you post would get better responses somewhere else - this thread is for students and graduates (College and University rather than schools), not sure there'll be too many students able to help

MrsManda

As far as I'm aware there is no legal requirement for private schools to offer any form of financial assistance. Most offer bursaries providing it's financially viable but these are finite resources so perhaps they've already given their quota of means tested bursaries so only scholarships are available.

whitfreak

You are correct in the difference between a scholarship and a bursary.

However, to get most bursaries you need to qualify for a scholarship. I.e. prospective pupil gets awarded a scholarship for 20% of fees, parents show that they cannot afford the rest so a 30% bursary is also awarded.

Very few school have purely means-test bursuries.

Or atleast that was the situation when I went through it a few years ago. To be fair the Charities Act is now in full force, and a lot of things around private schools have changed because of this. Presuming the school is still a charity, it might be worth getting hold of the appripriate paper work as how they award bursaries will have been key to keeping charity status.

dmg24

You are incorrect. Bursaries have to have an academic element to them, otherwise how would they be allocated?

Perhaps you could link to the literature so we could comment on whether it is misleading?

delerium

I've been looking into this for my lo and agree with the op that the majority of the schools I have looked at have said that the bursaries are only there for financial assistance.

I think despite the fact that I am in Scotland and so many things are different for us that schools are no longer alowed to give scholarships for particular academic ability...or at least that seems to be the jist of what I am reading.

smalandcute

i have found this on the net:

http://www.aprivateeducation.co.uk/applying-for-bursary.html

key bit here: it is important to note, bursaries are not awarded based on purely academic criteria;

get back on the phone to them and state that you need the forms for the bursaries offered, it does sound like whoever you spoke to got scholorships and bursaries mixed up, if needs be speak to the head.

if your struggling that much with the fees and dont qualify for the bursary then why are putting your child through private education? is there not a good state school near you?

whacks

They might not be awarded entirley on academic criteria but they will still play a major role in deciding who is entitled to a bursary. Private schools are primarily concerned with attaining a high standard in the school leagues. If they have a choice between accepting a poor student who passed a test with 99% and a poor student that just scraped in over their minimum pass mark they will award the bursary to the 99% student.

Bursarys are limited and they will be handed out to those deemed more suitable. We do not know if the school had 99 bursaries and 200 children applying that may be entitled to help.

twig1_2

Usually you have to write to the bursar when you start the admission process for a bursary application form and disclose your financial circumstances so you can be considered if your child gets offered a place..Did you not send in a application form to be considered for a bursary ? There will be lots of people applying for these now even some people who have children at the school with changed financial circumstances. They do not have unlimited funding for these so it may be that preference has been given to better scoring candidates with similar assistance needs. By all means ask to speak to the bursar and get an explanation but you have no rights to have details of anyone elses eligibilty over yours. Bursaries always used to be independantly audited to ensure people receiving them were the most qualified I wouldn't have thought this has changed.

Imposter67 wrote: »

We have just been through the admissions process for a local private school for my son. All the time we were told that we could apply for a bursary when a place was offered. We got a letter offering a place at full fees. When we contacted them for a bursary form, they said all bursaries had been allocated and we did not qualify as our child had not done well enough in the test and that financial circumstances are not the only factor.

When we asked them to clarify the process, they said it is clear from their literature that the test is the criteria for bursaries, despite the phrase "means-tested" appearing several times. I thought a discount for exceptional performance in a test was called a scholarship?

We are middle income and it will be a struggle to pay full fees. Does anyone have any similar experiences with private school bursaries? I am disappointed as I feel the school has not been straight with us or given us a fair chance and it's literature is obfuscatory and misleading. Our financial circumstances are not even being considered.

Imposter67

Thanks for everyone's comments, very helpful. My main issues are:

1. The school never made the application process for bursaries clear or the criteria.
2. We have never had a chance to make an application and have our financial circumstances taken into account.

I have had several years of argument with my partner and have agreed to go private to assuage her fears. Having accepted this route, I am not too impressed with this early setback which seems to me down to the school's lack of transparency. We only have another week before we have to decide.

Just to sum up, this is not about being turned down for a bursary whilst others get them (the school says around 30% will get discounts either as scholarships or bursaries), it's about NOT even being considered for one which seems unfair.

twig1_2

I would ask them to lay out the criteria for you so you can see whether you would have had any chance of being eligible . The eligible salary levels are surprisingly low . Looking at some private school application forms the whole thing about bursaries is fairly low key most don't state how many they have available . I suppose it is about balancing expectation against the supply of these places.

Could you afford to pay for a year and then apply for next year if you meet the eligibility criterea?


Thanks for everyone's comments, very helpful. My main issues are:

1. The school never made the application process for bursaries clear or the criteria.
2. We have never had a chance to make an application and have our financial circumstances taken into account.

I have had several years of argument with my partner and have agreed to go private to assuage her fears. Having accepted this route, I am not too impressed with this early setback which seems to me down to the school's lack of transparency. We only have another week before we have to decide.

Just to sum up, this is not about being turned down for a bursary whilst others get them (the school says around 30% will get discounts either as scholarships or bursaries), it's about NOT even being considered for one which seems unfair.[/QUOTE]