11 Plus Exams Forum

St Pauls and NLCS request half a term's fees by way of an acceptance deposit. St Paul's fees are almost £5,000 per term and NLCS almsot £4,000. Does anyone know why these 2 schools appear to be the only schools in England to request so much money as a deposit? Even the boarding schools don't ask for half a term's fees.

probably because they
a) they want to be sure of the numbers and think that by asking for a large deposit they will only get committed people who really will take the place and not have people dropping out at the last minute.

b) see it as a way of making some money knowing that some people will want to be sure of a back up place and be prepared to lose the money to have had the security - easy way to earn 2.5k

OTH it could be said that schools shouldn't be demanding deposits until you are sure that that is the school you want ie until all results / options are in - think there are some "guidelines" about this?????

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I've been really impressed with Westminster. If DS gets a conditional offer in March for 2011 entry they will let us accept the place but we do not have to pay the deposit until late in 2010. I think this is very fair. Some schools are contracted to give the deposit back 20 months before the entry date if you decide you don't want DS to go.

Don't know about NLCS but St Paul's offers have an acceptance deadline of noon on March 6th, by which time everyone (certainly in London) will have received any state school offer (sent out on March 2nd).

I agree it's a lot of money and the timing is tight, but I don't see many people accepting St Paul's 'as a back-up' before National Offers Day - there's still time to accept after NOD. Are any independent schools' offers sent out after March 2nd?

Incidentally, what I find outrageous is that text books don't appear to be included in the hefty SPGS fees - they're surely a prerequisite at any school!

Sounds Like St Paul's are being sensible like many others (after all they did have a splendid head for many years, Elizabeth Diggory, who taught English at KEHS).
Asking for a deposit at that stage is probably reasonable as state school offers and other private offers etc will all be in, I assume that the only reason for delay would be state appeals
The schools will need to start planning and if people aren't committed to a place this becomes difficult.

It's not the principle of settling a deposit (I have no objection to that and understand perfectly the reason why it is necessary) it is the amount.

there will still be movement on places until the summer - wait list places at Owens and even HBS came up last year in the summer term - and people will forgo even hefty deposits in those circumstances! But I agree the amount is huge.
What is even worse is smaller schools like St Margarets who are asking for £1000 deposit weeks in advance of the consortium and other major schools offers. That strikes me as simply a way to raise revenue.

It stops time-wasters. Some smaller schools keep a whole term's fees as a deposit i.e. more than £2K, which I think is asking too much in this current climate. I agree that it is a huge amount which is unwelcome in view of the fees to come but if it was say £500 for sought-after schools like these, I imagine that quite a few people would pay up and 'decide later' which could lengthen the whole admissions process. It certainly makes your decision more finite! Are they in a consortium or could you accept both? I remember reading that schools shared 'acceptances' between each other and that you could only accept one place from schools in the same consortium.

St Paul's Girls' isn't in a consortium so, in theory, you could accept both (though I know some schools' offers require you to state you haven't accepted a place anywhere else). I guess it boils down to your conscience/bank balance in that case.