Are you entitled to a bursary? Here’s everything you need to know

Image: Radley College

It’s no secret that for all but a small minority of families, the cost of independent schooling is a huge and often overwhelming financial commitment. But that doesn’t mean a place at an independent school is unobtainable. Long ago, there was a widely held belief that independent schools were only the preserve of the privileged, but nowadays, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Providing financial aid is a big and important priority for many independent schools, who are actively growing their financial aid pots to enable a wider range of families to access independent education – with everything from scholarships giving 5 per cent off school fees to life-changing 110 per cent bursaries on offer. More families are likely to be eligible for support than you might think.

That said, there’s no doubt that demystifying the jargon, navigating the bursary-application process and picking up the phone to a school to divulge your financial history can be a nerve-racking and difficult process. The financial-aid world can be a total minefield, and there are often no black and white answers to what you’d think are simple questions.

Instead of spending hours trawling the internet, listening to dinner-party chat or speculating, the best thing you can do is pick up the phone and have an honest conversation with a school’s bursar or admissions team. They will be able to offer specific advice based on your own personal circumstances – and from our experience, they are always friendly, patient people who are well aware of the enormity of the process.

What’s really important is to remember that starting the conversation with a school need not have an impact on your child’s chances of securing a place. The admissions process is used to identify the children with the ability or potential to thrive in a school; the bursary process considers what support people might need and how much money they have.


Many schools have healthy bursary pots for the right candidate, and each school’s Talk Education page has some brief information about what the level of support tends to be at each individual school (have a look in the ‘Fees & Bursaries’ box under a school’s review).

First things first…
Bear in mind that applying for a bursary is a long, detailed and necessarily intrusive process, so give yourself plenty of time. Another important thing to note is that even if you meet all of the requirements for a bursary (these are factors including your household income, expenditure, assets, the number of children you have, loans, debts and your financial commitments), it is not a given that you will receive one. Each family is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

How much financial support can I expect to receive?
Sadly, it’s impossible to answer this. Each school’s bursary pot, if it has one, is shared between candidates and this might vary year on year. Bursarial support depends not only on your family circumstances, but also on the situation of the individual school or school group. Some schools, much as they would love to offer generous bursaries, do not have the funds to do so, or find it tricky to attract the right families who both meet the entrance criteria and are genuinely in need. Others have large endowments and are eager to find the right candidates to spend it on.

What is worth knowing is that the level of fee assistance available at schools can stretch right across the spectrum. Some people might think they won’t qualify for a bursary because – on paper – they have a fairly comfortable life, but bursaries come in all shapes and sizes. Schools are incredibly aware of the financial pressures on the squeezed middle, and many offer partial bursaries, which might be linked to exceptional achievement and cover a small discount off fees – say, anything from 5 to 30 per cent. In essence, these bursaries top up what a family can afford to help get them over the line.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are life-changing ‘transformational’ bursaries. These are the shining stars of financial aid and can offer families fee discounts of up to 110 per cent to cover extras such as uniform, trips and music lessons. A number of charities including Royal SpringBoard (more on them below) help schools actively recruit the right pupils for these bursaries. They are usually offered at senior-school level, but sometimes pupils are sponsored through their final two years of prep school, ensuring they arrive at their senior school fully prepared for the years ahead.

Both types of bursary – partial and transformational – are really important to schools. They want to be able to attract pupils from all walks of life and all demographics, and they don’t want the fees to be an impediment to a talented pupil who could really benefit from an education at their school.

What is the difference between a bursary and a scholarship?
Scholarships are offered to pupils who show exceptional talent in academics, sports, art, music, D&T, drama, etc. They are not related to family income. Many scholarships do not come hand in hand with a large fee reduction (5 to 10 per cent is common, although some schools do offer up to 50 per cent off fees for selected scholarships). Some scholarships are wholly honorary and more schools are moving towards this model. But a heads-up – scholarships are often hard won. Sports scholarships often require children to play at least to county level in one or more sports; music scholarships can demand significantly more expertise and ability than top grades in music exams.

Bursaries are strictly means-tested and, although they require children to pass the usual entrance requirements, they do not usually depend on a child winning a scholarship (although occasionally they are). That said, some schools might award a child a scholarship and then offer to top it up via a means-tested bursary.

Many schools are now offering much more specific scholarships that appeal to children from all backgrounds and encompass a wide range of talents. Caterham School, for example, offers scholarships in areas ranging from coding to problem-solving. Other schools such as Bilton Grange actively seek choral scholars – and any associated fee discount can be augmented by a bursary of up to 100 per cent.

Do schools offer financial aid to parents in certain professions?
Yes. Some schools have historical financial provision for children with parents serving in the armed forces, for example, while others might offer fee remission for the son or daughter of an active member of the clergy. In the case of the armed forces, this may be linked to a family’s Continuation of Education Allowance (CEA), which is designed to assist service personnel with their child’s boarding-school fees in order to minimise disruption if a parent’s job requires frequent travel or relocation both nationally and internationally.

Is a bursary for life?
Not necessarily. If you accept a bursary, make sure you’ve understood all the terms on which this has been awarded. They are generally awarded for the whole of a child’s time at a school but are reviewed annually, with the school retaining the right to increase or decrease the award depending on the family’s financial circumstances.

Some schools also offer emergency bursary funds, designed to help current pupils whose families have fallen on sudden and unexpected financial hardship. These are usually temporary, and help prevent any disruption to schooling while the family get back on their feet.

Who else can I speak to for advice?
There are a handful of organisations out there that work very closely with independent schools in order to help facilitate and offer bursaries to the right candidates. One, the London Fee Assistance Consortium (LFAC), was set up with the aim of getting the message out about the availability of fee assistance and making the application process less daunting. LFAC works in tandem with 17 of London’s top independent schools, including Bancroft’s School, Emanuel School and Westminster School. 

Royal SpringBoard also does amazing work to help provide transformational bursaries to pupils all over the UK. The charity works to give disadvantaged and vulnerable children access to fully funded bursaries at boarding schools (soon the programme will include day schools too). All of the children the charity supports are currently or have been either looked after in the care system; are vulnerable or on the ‘edge’ of care due to difficult home lives; or are from areas with high levels of social deprivation. Organisations like this just go to show that independent education really is open to everyone, regardless of their background.


We’re constantly blown away by the level of commitment from schools to growing their financial-aid provision. It’s clear that many are bending over backwards to make themselves accessible to pupils from all walks of life – and in turn, enriching their school community, and helping to remove the outdated perception that independent schools are privileged bubbles.

Traditionally, senior schools had a greater ability to help families than prep schools, although this is changing. Highfield and Brookham, for example, is evangelical about broadening access, and its commitment to its bursary programme is rarely seen at prep-school level. Funded places are offered to pupils who, it’s felt, ‘would clearly benefit from a private education but whose family circumstances make it little more than a pipe dream’, says the school. ‘In the current climate, access to private education is becoming more and more of a privilege, and we recognise our responsibility to ensure we bridge this advantage gap.’

Since the school launched its hugely successful Centenary Bursaries Fund in 2007, they have totally transformed the lives of 17 pupils – including those who were experiencing social difficulties, children with special needs and lacking the right academic support, and gifted children, where Highfield and Brookham’s environment could allow them to realise their potential far more than in another school.

The school firmly believes that this early intervention is key: ‘Supporting children up to the age of 13 educationally and pastorally has been proven to have a dramatically positive effect on their life chances and on their chances of further educational opportunities at the best schools, colleges and universities later in life. Many independent senior schools find that trying to widen access at 11+ or 13+ is challenging, because by that age children from disadvantaged backgrounds will often not have had sufficient academic grounding to thrive in such schools.’

Cumnor House Sussex offers a similarly impressive scheme. Launched in 2015, the Cumnor Foundation offers two fully funded scholarships each year to children in Year 3 at a Sussex state primary who are excelling academically and performing at the top of their class. What makes this programme so unique is that it covers the entire cost of a child’s education for the 10 years from age eight to 18 – and when the pupil reaches 13+, the school works closely with a number of senior-school partners (including The King’s School, Canterbury, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks School) to orchestrate their move into the senior school’s own 100 per cent funded fee-assistance programme. While Foundation Scholars are required to excel academically, places are always strictly means-tested and only awarded to families who could never afford a private-school education. The school works closely with a number of local state schools, community groups and sport clubs to raise awareness of the Foundation and support applications from as wide an area as possible.

‘We currently have seven Foundation Scholars in Years 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 who are thriving within our school community,’ says head Fergus Llewellyn. ‘It is particularly heart-warming to see our Foundation Scholars reach the end of their Cumnor journey, to enable their smooth transition to senior school and keep in touch with their progress once they’ve left us.’

Earlier this year, Caldicott School launched its Hitchin Scholarship, aimed at academically able pupils who excel in sport, music, art or drama but may not be able to afford the school fees. The award offers £1,000 off school fees each year but can also be supplemented by a fully funded means-tested bursary where there is proven financial need. It’s all thanks to generous sponsorship from parents, and, says head Jeremy Banks, ‘having the opportunity to expand access to Caldicott has brought a wide number of positives to the whole community’.

Senior schools tend to have even bigger endowment funds, and the work they are doing to widen access is nothing short of amazing. Take Radley College, whose ambition by 2032 is for the equivalent of 20 per cent of all fee income to fund means-tested funded places – half on full awards, the other half on partial funding. Once this is achieved, up to a third of boys will be in receipt of some level of fee assistance.

One pupil who has benefited from the scheme is Hamza, who joined Radley on a free place in the sixth form. At the end of his first year, Hamza was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Robinson Memorial Fund Scholarship, which allowed him to travel to William and Mary College in the US for a three-week course in early American history.

‘I look back on the flurry of emotions in the weeks before starting at Radley,’ he says. ‘I found myself burying my mind in dread, fear and anxiety, but I felt an instant sense of belonging when walking into H Social [his boarding house] with its love, camaraderie and energy. Living in a house of bold and talented characters fuelled by willingness to throw myself into the endless opportunities Radley has to offer – from swimming and rowing to CCF and Scottish reeling.’

Lancing College offers a combination of means-tested bursaries (awarded in conjunction with a scholarship) and transformational bursaries, which fund the whole cost of educating pupils from challenging backgrounds. These awards cover 110 per cent of fees to ensure that pupils don’t miss out on extra trips and activities – and this academic year, there are 17 pupils in the school across all year groups benefiting from one of these awards.

Many schools are spurred on to grow their bursary coffers by upcoming anniversaries and the ambitions of their founders. In 2028, Tonbridge School will celebrate its 475th anniversary, and by then it hopes to have 100 pupils on substantial means-tested support (at present, 66 boys receive financial aid). The school’s Foundation Award scheme is designed to give any bright and talented boy access to a Tonbridge education, and in some cases, this targeted support begins at prep-school level, with the school sponsoring a boy through Year 7 and 8 in preparation for their arrival at Tonbridge in Year 9. ‘As someone who benefited from an assisted place, I recognise just how transformative the gift of an educational opportunity can be,’ says James Priory, Tonbridge’s headmaster. ‘It is an extraordinary privilege to be able to provide similar opportunities to young people and their families through our Foundation Award programme.’
A few years ago, Rugby School celebrated its revolutionary Arnold Foundation programme’s 18th birthday (the fund provides free boarding places to the most deserving candidates), and to mark the event, launched an ambitious ‘Fast Forward 50’ campaign, a pledge to have raised £50 million by 2030 for an endowment that will enable the Foundation to support students in perpetuity, whilst also increasing the number of places offered. There are currently 28 Foundation students at Rugby and its associated prep school Bilton Grange; Fast Forward 50 wants to increase that number to 40.

‘A point which is often overlooked is the benefits to everyone in a school of ensuring open access,’ says Hannah Graydon of Caterham School, which works closely with the Royal SpringBoard Foundation to offer transformational bursaries. ‘Learning is hugely enriched for all by having a diverse range of people in the classroom, and we are finding more and more that all families want to join our school because they know we take diversity seriously – and they see that as a huge benefit to all.’ We couldn’t agree more.

Want to know more? Consult our dedicated bursaries page, where we've collated the most up-to-date information available from a huge number of schools up and down the UK.