bursaries

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

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NeedWine
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:59 pm

bursaries

Post by NeedWine »

Can I ask a question about bursaries and offers?
Let us say a school has 5 bursaries available and there are (say) 15 children who would make the cut for an offer but are dependent on a bursary to be able to go.

Do bursaries get confirmed at the same time as offers are made and, if so, do they still offer the other 10 knowing the wont be able to come or do they make the offers and then sort out bursaries?
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: bursaries

Post by hermanmunster »

Hi Needwine (love the username)!

Re bursaries - the schools will have a pot of money for bursaries, they then decide to

1 fund a small group of kids to the maximum that they need which means others don't get any
2 fund more kids with less money each, meaning that some may not be able to go as the offer is not enough

the offer is usually made at the time of the offer of the place

if they go for (1) they have to decide how to allocate - maybe on academic ability ie exam scores. If this is the case they usually offer the other kids places but at full fees - they may also have a waiting list for bursaries ie some kids will not take them up and the funding may get passed onto others.
browneyedgirl
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 11:34 am

Re: bursaries

Post by browneyedgirl »

Hi,
In our experience (may not be the same everywhere) all applicants are ranked and bursaries get confirmed when the offer is issued . So in your scenario 5 bursaries would be offered and the remaining 10 would get a full fees offer and advised they were on a wait list place for a bursary. In our area these bursary places are highly sought after so I don't think they often go to the wait list. However in other areas I can see people may change their mind / apply to more than one school so wait list may well be used. Hope all goes well (tis very stressful for the parents)
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: bursaries

Post by hermanmunster »

browneyedgirl wrote:Hi,
I However in other areas I can see people may change their mind / apply to more than one school so wait list may well be used. Hope all goes well (tis very stressful for the parents)
I think that the other thing that can happen is that despite the bursary offer, parents find that the amount of money they still have to pay is more than they feel that they can afford so they decline the place - some get Grammar offers and take this instead meaning that some funding can appear later (but not always)
Vicster
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 1:29 pm

Re: bursaries

Post by Vicster »

Having looked at the bursary policy for a couple of schools I have found the following:

School no 1. A very highly regarded school which has a very high acceptance rate offers as many bursaries as it can based on financial need. If a bursary place is declined then the bursary money stays in the schools bursary fund and no additional bursary offers are made to other potential students.

School no2. A good school which is reasonably well regarded but the acceptance rate is lower than school no1. This school offers as many bursaries as it can from the funds available but offers are made based on examination performance, so (for example) if the top 5 performing children need full bursaries and that uses all of the available bursary funds then only those 5 children will be offered bursary assisted places and nobody else will be offered an assisted place. However, the school expects bursary offers to either or accept or decline the offer of a place within a few days so that the funds can be offered to other students if not needed by the children originally offered an assisted place.
CPM1771
Posts: 130
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 2:10 pm

Re: bursaries

Post by CPM1771 »

I am no expert on bursary policy, but incase this thread leaves an incorrect impression, not all schools follow the same approach in terms of offers. Some schools operate a separate entrance procedure for sponsored/bursary entrance so that you need to choose which path to follow. Whilst children may sit the same exam, if you have applied for a bursary place and this is not offered, DC would not receive a fee paying place offer even if they meet the entrance criteria for a fee paying place. The logic for this is that it then only attracts application from those who genuinely would not be able to enter the school without bursary funding.
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