Advice needed on anyone who qualified for a bursary please!

[charlie77]

Hi
WE have been offered a very generous bursary, and I am still not sure how we got it. Both my husband and I work and earn good money, however we have a huge mortgage and all our money is committed (No savings) so I guess they based it on disposable income. I know two other families who I was almost certain they would get the bursaries and they have one earner in the household, but both didn’t not get a bursary. On looking at the bursary criteria, I noticed they give priority to children who have been awarded scholarships or scored very high in the entrances tests. It also stated that where there are two parents in the household they expect both parents to be working unless due to some disability one is unable to.
In your case, I feel you can explain your savings that they are for a deposit towards a house, then you should mention that when you complete the application forms, (and I guess show that you are actively looking to buy a property). There really is no straight formula and they take a lot of things into consideration. Just be very transparent and give them everything i.e your bank statements, direct debit mandates, tax returns etc, and keep your fingers crossed.

Remember each case is also assessed at the discretion of the school, and sometimes you have people with earning of over £100k being awarded bursaries over families earning around 30K

[emmsie]

A bit late to this but from my experience of the Whitgift foundation if you have more than a years school fees saved you won't qualify for a bursary although things may have changed recently. Also bear in mind that you won't necessarily get offered a bursary from both Schools (assuming you have a DS). As mentioned by a previous poster it is dependent on how well your child performed and how poor the boys above him are. The Whitgift Foundation allocate a certain amount for bursarys rather than a number of places and each school has its own bursary budget therefore if the boys that performed well need a large bursary the money won't stretch so far.

[Ellie]

At dd's school bursaries are given to children who achieve high marks in the entrance exams but whose parents cannot afford the fees. Savings are normally taken into account to assess affordability, out of fairness to other parents who have little or no savings and make huge sacrifices in order to pay. I hope you are awarded a bursary but depending on the school it might be hard to prove that your savings were for the sole purpose of buying a property and you may be asked to choose.

[Roz12]

Thanks Im a bit worried now whether to apply as I could never afford school fees based on my salary and being a single parent My divorce papers explain that the savings awarded from my ex are for a house deposit. But based on fact can I ay for a year;s fees from that yes I can but I'm not spending a house deposit awarded by my ex for fees.. I can't I have to provided my daughter accommodation.

[Kingfisher]

Some independent schools would expect both parents to pay for the fees; they might be divorced but the child is still the responsibility of both. Other schools will be more lenient and single parents might be considered more favourably. Sometimes there is a cut-off limit. One school I know has a joint salary of £75,000 as cut-off. Earn more than that and no level of bursary will be awarded. In my area £65,000 is more common as a limit. If you earn under about £25,000 you may well get a full bursary.

I found that a few schools are not interested if you cannot pay full fees and others will bend over backwards to help you out. Ring the bursary and ask what the situation is, otherwise you will always be wondering.