This article will explain which aspects you need to be confident with before you launch your B+ platform to families.
Before launching your Bursary+ system these are the vital areas to check.
Parent Homepage including welcome message
Bursary Application Form - we strongly recommend you create a parent account from scratch or create a test application and walk through this journey yourself. Be careful to check that you're happy with what income and outgoings evidence you are asking for.
Fees, bursary bands, house equity & assets per year group and per application year.
How to manage bursary statuses
A reminder of the Bursary Calculation Flow
Parent 1 completes the form
- They declare incomes, outgoings, assets, etc.
- If a second parent is involved, they fill in a separate form (without seeing the other’s data).
System Summarises Application Form Value
- Once the forms are fully submitted, the platform creates an aggregate of both parents’ data—this is the unverified figure.
The Bursary Formula Runs
- The system produces the "Total Resource"
Compare to Bursary Bands
- If the resource is below or within a threshold, the platform recommends a bursary percentage.
- E.g., If total resource is £32,000 and the 100% band is £0–£30,000, the applicant might fall just outside 100% and move into the next band (e.g., 95%).
Office / Staff Verification
- Staff review evidence (payslips, mortgage statements, etc.) and can adjust any declared figure in the Office Value (leaving the figures submitted by parents untouched for record keeping purposes)
- On the bursary summary section of an applicant profile (staff view), differences from the parent’s original figure appear in red to highlight changes.
- The staff must manually update the application status of each application to the correct stays (e.g. Awarded once the figures have been confirmed. Parents can see the status changes if they log into their home page but they will not be able see any of the Office Value figures.
Results & Communication
- You can see on the Bursary Summary tab how much bursary is suggested.
- The final decision can be communicated to the family, often via system emails or direct contact.