Bursaries & Scholarships

At least 169,903 pupils at ISC schools (33.0%) received help with their fees in 2009. The majority of these pupils - 133,756 - received scholarships or bursaries from their school. The value of this assistance was over £490 million.

The increasing number of children receiving help with fees from schools is a trend that began in the recession of the early 1990s as more families needed bursaries to enable pupils at crucial examination stages to remain at the school. It has been boosted in recent years as schools have provided more financial help to compensate for the loss of Government Assisted Places. Since numbers on assisted places reached their zenith of 40,331 in 1998, the number of pupils helped by schools has increased by 44,733, more than making up the difference.