INDEPENDENT schools are becoming increasingly reliant on wealthy overseas pupils paying fees.
Bursaries being handed out to pupils to attend the schools have gone up in value by about a fifth in the last three years as British parents struggle to meet costs.
And the result is more than a third of all independent school pupils now receiving financial support.
Means-tested awards, handed out to students to help pay fees, have gone up by about £50million from just over £250million in 2010 to slightly more than £300million today.
Experts believe the figures, published by the Independent Schools Council, show even well-off parents in Britain need financial support to give their children a privileged education.
And as a result the schools themselves are becoming dependent on students from abroad to pay full fees.
There was a 1.4 per cent increase in the number of foreign pupils at fee-paying establishments in the past 12 months.
That figure equates to 365 extra children.
Meanwhile the number of British pupils attending the schools dropped in the same period by just shy of 2,000.
The average cost of attending a boarding school is currently just over £27,000 a year.
Bursaries being handed out to pupils to attend the schools have gone up in value by about a fifth in the last three years as British parents struggle to meet costs.
And the result is more than a third of all independent school pupils now receiving financial support.
Means-tested awards, handed out to students to help pay fees, have gone up by about £50million from just over £250million in 2010 to slightly more than £300million today.
Experts believe the figures, published by the Independent Schools Council, show even well-off parents in Britain need financial support to give their children a privileged education.
And as a result the schools themselves are becoming dependent on students from abroad to pay full fees.
There was a 1.4 per cent increase in the number of foreign pupils at fee-paying establishments in the past 12 months.
That figure equates to 365 extra children.
Meanwhile the number of British pupils attending the schools dropped in the same period by just shy of 2,000.
The average cost of attending a boarding school is currently just over £27,000 a year.
