help for daughter too young for ema

sad_dog_lady

any ideas .... my daughter is a very clever girl home educated and passed gcses at 14, diplomas at 15 etc ... she is now 16 and is starting colege monday!!
a 15 hour a week course in proffesional cookery.....she was born in november 92
so she does not qualify for ema until sept 09
can she ask for amy financial help from college for knives uniform travelling etc? ideas please thanks

katykatkins

ah this happened to me with SO many things. i don't know anything about this, sorry, but I wanted to commiserate. Things like work experience, starting Uni at 17 (no freshers week for me) missing out on friends 18th birthdays etc etc. It only gets worse from her current age. It SUCKS to be younger than everyone else.

The_One_Who

I think there was a discussion on this a while back, and the answer was no she wouldn't be able to get help. I'm sure there will be someone more knowledgeable than me who can tell you for sure though.

sad_dog_lady

i thought there were hardship funds or bursaries for students funded by the college, perhaps these are no longer availiable??? thanks for replies so far

poet123

There are still student hardship funds,contact the College student services for advice.

Mike1989

Question, but this might be me just being dumb, I was 16 when I went to college but I got ema and didn't turn 17 until Feb the next year. My friend who I work with wasn't 17 until August 2008 but she gets ema. So am I missing something here because surely at 16 she is old enough to get ema, because your 16 when you start college...

beerqueen

I think you probably qualify for ema from the beginning of the school year after you're 16 so that's why it would be sept 09. And it was introduced to encourage school leavers from lower-income families to stay in education rather than be tempted to to into a job. So I would imagine that as she isn't legal school leaving age, that's why she doesn't qualify - it's nothing to do with the course she's doing but linked directly to age i.e. over legal school leaving age. But the college might have a fund that will help.

sad_dog_lady

if your birthday is before 31 aug 92 you get ema this year before sept
her's is november so none till sept 09 as its only worked out yearly...:(
thanks for all replies i will ask college for help for her instead, just discovered her bus fees are 180.00 and course uniform is 160.00 ouch !!!

Mike1989

So would her official leaving date of school, taking away the early GCSE aspect, mean she would have left school this summer?

If so that is probably the reason why she "can't" get the ema.

sad_dog_lady

it is indeed, just wanted to find out what to ask for at the college in the way of student grant/help for the £340.00 bill of uniform and travel fees
thanks again all

Lokolo

Don't want to sound rude but she got GCSEs at 14 and shes going to college early to do cookery?

She could get a job? 15 hours a week isn't exactly a huge amount, I am sure she could most probably find some worthwhile work experience in a kitchen?