Scamming EMA!

liquidlives

DanielJ wrote: »

£20 for me would be amazing, trust me. I am thinking most will be going on travel costs. I also want to do well in my new college because lets face, why the hell should i do there? I will have to use so much effort getting there everyday (bus>>>train>>bus>>>walk<<bus<<<train<<<bus) that if I did not want to do 'well' then I could just sit at home or find a job.

Won't just be that if you're planning on visiting universities. I've spent more money on national train services this year than I have in my whole life! It's plain ridiculous, even with the young persons railcard.

Helix

liquidlives wrote: »

Sadly you can't spend free lunch allowance on textbooks. I've got to buy another three for Further Maths this year, what fun. I'll have to get books for English Lit as well. It's really irritating because the school does Hamlet every year so they could just get some copies for us to use, but I don't know of any school that provides textbooks for 6th formers.

Mine provided all the text books that we needed. Plus all our travel expenses were refunded no matter what your income was. There was also a fund that people from low incomes could apply for if they needed extra money for course expenses.

So really in my Area there was no need for EMA at all. If they needed help with course expenses then they could apply for money from the LEA.

amethystdove

liquidlives wrote: »

Won't just be that if you're planning on visiting universities. I've spent more money on national train services this year than I have in my whole life! It's plain ridiculous, even with the young persons railcard.

DD wants to visit several unis this summer before she decides where she wants to go next year, problem is paying for the transport plus accommodation as some are to far to do in one day. One trip we managed to book means going to Glasgow from Midlands by coach and staying two nights in a hostel before returning, still worked out cheaper than the train plus one night in hostel. A tutor at school has now decided she shouldn't be taking two days off school for this! What else can we do, is she to be limited to only going to a uni nearer to home? Or choose sight unseen and spend 3 years regretting it?
Any ideas how we pay for the other trips, please post.

My daughter has benefited greatly from ema, it has enabled her to go on school related trips etc. We are on benefits and are repaying debts so have a below poverty line budget to live on. Ema means our daughter doesn't feel left out of things that others take for granted.
Wasn't aware till now about the access to learning fund which I think is to help pay for trips etc.?
Sorry it was a long post!!

Helix

amethystdove wrote: »

DD wants to visit several unis this summer before she decides where she wants to go next year, problem is paying for the transport plus accommodation as some are to far to do in one day. One trip we managed to book means going to Glasgow from Midlands by coach and staying two nights in a hostel before returning, still worked out cheaper than the train plus one night in hostel. A tutor at school has now decided she shouldn't be taking two days off school for this! What else can we do, is she to be limited to only going to a uni nearer to home? Or choose sight unseen and spend 3 years regretting it?
Any ideas how we pay for the other trips, please post.

My daughter has benefited greatly from ema, it has enabled her to go on school related trips etc. We are on benefits and are repaying debts so have a below poverty line budget to live on. Ema means our daughter doesn't feel left out of things that others take for granted.
Wasn't aware till now about the access to learning fund which I think is to help pay for trips etc.?
Sorry it was a long post!!

Have you actually asked the universities if they can help with the costs of going to visit. Many will do, I know a couple of my friends got their travel expenses paid by the university they were visiting.

katieowl_2

amethystdove wrote: »

DD wants to visit several unis this summer before she decides where she wants to go next year, problem is paying for the transport plus accommodation as some are to far to do in one day. One trip we managed to book means going to Glasgow from Midlands by coach and staying two nights in a hostel before returning, still worked out cheaper than the train plus one night in hostel. A tutor at school has now decided she shouldn't be taking two days off school for this! What else can we do, is she to be limited to only going to a uni nearer to home? Or choose sight unseen and spend 3 years regretting it?
Any ideas how we pay for the other trips, please post.

My daughter has benefited greatly from ema, it has enabled her to go on school related trips etc. We are on benefits and are repaying debts so have a below poverty line budget to live on. Ema means our daughter doesn't feel left out of things that others take for granted.
Wasn't aware till now about the access to learning fund which I think is to help pay for trips etc.?
Sorry it was a long post!!

Did you see the national express coaches £1 offer on the main MSE website??? Any way you could use an offer to get to a uni?

My daughter is hoping to go to Nottingham in September...but she's not been to look around the campus! I don't think 'sight unseen' is so bad a thing? As long as the course is what she wants to do, and the reports from the Uni are good generally?...My DD has managed to find a facebook (I think) link for the place she's staying and been chatting online to people who are also hoping to start there in Sept.

Regards

Kate

danny69

Neato wrote: »

I disagree with this point. My college is supposed to get £3000 (I think) per year to spend on my education. This just doesnt happen. We have to pay for school (writing) books. We share textbook even to the extreme of one between 3/4 at times. Were charged for things like spare pens...so what are they actually buying me?? A chair and a table?? I know that doesnt add up to £3000 a year. The EMA is not supposed to be solely for educational items, college are supposed to pay for the majority of those anyway. EMA is so that you can study without the added pressure of having to get a job. Personally I have a paper round aswell. Sometimes EMA will pay for my books, sometimes for new clothes...just as it would if i had a part time job. People scamming EMA should be reported but as for people bragging...thats not necessarily a bad thing. To get your EMA you have to turn up at college and achieve your target grades. So to brag they have to go to college so the EMA is an incentive to turn up. So as annoying as it may be they are actually benefiting themselves. However they should be reported so that they get their suitbale amount.

Do teachers work for free? The £3000 has to cover a lot of things. Do you get money spent on a sixth form area? He had a pool table and chairs had to be paid for aswell in the area. Schools have to pay to accommodate sixth form pupils. I also think that the EMA should be stopped. When I was in the sixth form (im 22 now) I got £10 a week. There were a lot of pupils recieving the full £30, though. In my view, most of the people who get the full amount live in bad areas (due to low parents income) and are the type of people that dont care. Not all students with single parents have a bad attitude towards their studies, but a lot of them stay on just to get the money. I dont think we should be bribing students into staying in education. What I am saying is the majority of people in reciept of the full amount are the kind of people that dont care about their education, therefore they will probably be unemployed and unskilled anyway when they leave the sixth form. In conclusion, yet another waste of money by the Labour Government. Unfortunately the people that dont have the right attitude towards earning a living - get support from the state which discourage a change in attitude.

Titch89

amethystdove wrote: »

A tutor at school has now decided she shouldn't be taking two days off school for this! What else can we do, is she to be limited to only going to a uni nearer to home? Or choose sight unseen and spend 3 years regretting it?

I've enver heard of this. It sounds silly to me as well. Who has actually said this? My understanding is that it has to be agreed with head of 6th form, EMA people, registration tutor and anyone teaching her that day.

I think some unis offer personal (ie, you book them for another day) campus tours.

They decide that they are going to be bored sitting at home so they goto the nearest college/6th form and apply for anything.

I'm sure most people at my old school were like this.:rolleyes: And then they moaned because they didn't get their EMA, because they didn't turn up to lessons/registration without good reason.

amethystdove

katieowl wrote: »

Did you see the national express coaches £1 offer on the main MSE website??? Any way you could use an offer to get to a uni?

My daughter is hoping to go to Nottingham in September...but she's not been to look around the campus! I don't think 'sight unseen' is so bad a thing? As long as the course is what she wants to do, and the reports from the Uni are good generally?...My DD has managed to find a facebook (I think) link for the place she's staying and been chatting online to people who are also hoping to start there in Sept.

Regards

Kate

Thanks Kate, that is how she is travelling to Glasgow so cheaply. Unfortunately the other dates and destinations don't work out this way!
Regards, M

Oldernotwiser

Helix wrote: »

Mine provided all the text books that we needed. Plus all our travel expenses were refunded no matter what your income was. There was also a fund that people from low incomes could apply for if they needed extra money for course expenses.

So really in my Area there was no need for EMA at all. If they needed help with course expenses then they could apply for money from the LEA.

BUT, as I've said before, it's not particularly supposed to be used for course expenses; it's an incentive for students from low income families to stay in education. That's not a personal point of view, it's government policy. You may not agree with the policy but it's pointless attacking it for something it's not supposed to be doing.

Kids from families who don't normally stay on in education are far more likely to do so if they have £30 per week to spend on leisure activities/music etc . Telling them that they're getting this money to spend on course materials and text books just isn't going to have the same effect!

SuziQ

I think Helix must be in a minority. My daughter had to use the EMA for college expenses-books trips etc,there was no other fund to help. The EMA did mean she got a proportion off her weeks language course in Seville,which was fantastic as I couldn't have afforded it full price.She has also got a little experience in managing her own money which I hope will stand her in good stead at Uni.Years ago whan I had a good job EMA wouldn't have been available to her and lets face it,she wouldn't have needed it as I could have afforded to give her regular pocket money. In our current situation we are more than grateful for the EMA .