Scamming EMA!

John38_2

savvy wrote: »

I'm stunned, our college can't wait to give it to the EMA students

I can certainly see the benefits to EMA, my eldest was able to get £20 pw and that all went on his travel so it certainly saved me some money, but now my youngest won't be able to get it and I'm not sure I can afford to supplement him the same.

I think it works when the students are absolutely motivated to learn, however at least 50% of claimants can't be bothered where I work, they just do the minimum to get the money.

I was a bit surprised myself to be honest when I first joined.

They will pay it to EMA students in exceptional cases, but the leaflets say its designed for cases where students ineligible for EMA face financial difficulties in coming to college.

I'm guessing its because the LSF isn't half as big as it used to be, and colleges are struggling to make it last a whole year.

As for 50% of EMA students messing around, I'd agree thats the case in some colleges.

A decent college will kick out any kids who are messing around and can't be bothered to turn up or work hard etc, because the college is proud of its reputation, whereas some places will let anyone join and mess about, because its another £6,000-10,000 per pupil per course depending on the region.

I'm on a Uniformed Public Services Course, and if we turn up in unironed shirts or trousers, we'll be sent home to sort ourselves out, theres no chance we'd be aloud to doss for 2 years to get EMA.

I have noticed a lot of academic people taking E2E courses though, now they've found out they can get EMA at £30 a week regardless of household income. People who should really be doing A Levels.

savvy

John38 wrote: »

They will pay it to EMA students in exceptional cases, but the leaflets say its designed for cases where students ineligible for EMA face financial difficulties in coming to college.

LOL that would've pleased my students who just miss out! But certainly isn't the case in our college, but then it is based in a low socio-economic area and draws a lot of the local students. I'm actually wondering if you're college is allowed to do that, maybe worth you checking with your college's LEA

John38 wrote: »

As for 50% of EMA students messing around, I'd agree thats the case in some colleges.

A decent college will kick out any kids who are messing around and can't be bothered to turn up or work hard etc, because the college is proud of its reputation, whereas some places will let anyone join and mess about, because its another £6,000-10,000 per pupil per course depending on the region.

Ooooo don't even get me started, my colleagues and I have to go through so much stress and aggro before they remotely consider kicking the offender out, possibly to ensure every channel has been explored, but can't tell you how much time and hassle it causes us :rolleyes:

John38 wrote: »

I'm on a Uniformed Public Services Course, and if we turn up in unironed shirts or trousers, we'll be sent home to sort ourselves out, theres no chance we'd be aloud to doss for 2 years to get EMA.

Wow, I used to teach on that course as they are in our area, but they've never had to come to college like that! We've only just got them to wear a college sports kit for practicals and visits! :eek:

Titch89

John38 wrote: »

I have noticed a lot of academic people taking E2E courses though, now they've found out they can get EMA at £30 a week regardless of household income. People who should really be doing A Levels.

isn't E2E like an apprenticeship? In which case, the rules are different. (they get a wage instead of EMA)

liquidlives

scat wrote: »

Anyone know how long they take to process your application? My son applied ages, well seems like ages!!, ago and have heard nothing. Am in a panic because if the form goes astray I'll have lost all my ruddy supporting evidence!!!

I sent my application off a couple of months ago and got a letter confirming I would be getting EMA a week or so ago. I got the exact same letter again today, bizarrely enough. Last year it was about the same length of time, so don't worry (yet)!

999

Anyone know how long they take to process your application? My son applied ages, well seems like ages!!, ago and have heard nothing. Am in a panic because if the form goes astray I'll have lost all my ruddy supporting evidence!!!

Scat - please see extract from EMA website below of how long it should take to process your application. However I believe there is a new company running the EMA this year and they are having problems

Q. How long will it take for an application form to be processed?

A. If you send us your application form we will normally write to you within two weeks telling you whether you are entitled to EMA (allowing time for your application to arrive). If your application form is wrong we will tell you what is wrong with it. If you have sent us your application form and not heard within two weeks, call us to check what is happening. If you would like someone else to talk to us about your application on your behalf (like your learning provider) we can do that as long as you tell our helpline that you are authorising that person to speak to us for you, and they are with you when you call us.

Oldernotwiser

Titch89 wrote: »

isn't E2E like an apprenticeship? In which case, the rules are different. (they get a wage instead of EMA)

E2E is a very basic course, designed originally for people who weren't ready for employment or formal training.

Savvy_Sue

Rose2White wrote: »

In all honesty I would rather have had the bus passes paid for as her money was used on lunch each day and £2 a day doesn't go far. Besides the bus pass is a large amount (£120) three times a year (Aug, Dec & Mar) as apposed to the small amount for lunch each day.

I realise that if your daughter's been claiming EMA for the last two years this is likely to be a bit late for her, but surely part of the answer would have been to take a packed lunch?

My boys didn't / don't get EMA, so I give them a monthly allowance to cover their bus fares and lunches. If they walk and take a packed lunch, they are quids in ... so DS2 has done VERY well. Not sure how DS3 will fare from September.

liquidlives wrote: »

but I don't know of any school that provides textbooks for 6th formers.

Another one here that provides textbooks. Students are asked to pay a deposit at the start of Year 12, and they get it back when they leave IF they've had all their teachers sign to say they've returned all text / library books. Didn't stop someone phoning after DS2 had shown me his letter saying he could collect his to ask about a Psychology book, but I assured them that he'd been signed off!

In fact the school did say that if we wanted to, we could donate the deposit to the Sixth Form improvement fund, so I did. One more lad to get through it ...

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.

You've already had a lot of good advice about this, but pre-visit research and thought is definitely worth while. DS2 only applied to four universities, but then decided he didn't want to be in London, and he DEFINITELY didn't want to be in London in 2012 if he did a four year degree. You would have thought a mathematician could have worked that out on his fingers before filling in his UCAS form, but there you go ...

If your daughter looks at prospectuses, she should be able to work out whether the university is scattered over a wide area or 'concentrated' or on a campus. She'll see where accommodation is offered and what sort it is. She can gauge whether it's in a city, a town, or out in the middle of nowhere. She can think about whether she wants the challenge of somewhere completely different (they tend to talk funny in certain parts of the country!) or more familiar.

And as well as that she can get detailed course information, and information on accommodation - I caught DS2 trying to make decisions based on what the internet policy was in various halls, which didn't seem particularly helpful given that they all tend to ban high usage!

And she can check what kind of offers they make: do they make lots of offers or just a few? Do they make high offers? Is she predicted to meet their 'normal' offer?

Enough ...

liquidlives wrote: »

I can see your point but I don't want to waste my time applying to a uni in an area I'm going to hate if I end up there. The courses at some of these universities seem so similar I don't know how else I'd know which five to put down on the application form.

See above. If you do your research and think carefully beforehand you can work a lot of this out. An unrelated example: when we moved cross-country, lots of people said "Oh, there are LOTS of lovely little villages around there," and I just thought how much I would HATE to live in a lovely little village ... how about you? Do you fancy a campus you never need to leave, shrouded in fog and on top of one of the steepest hills in England? I wouldn't, but my sister was very happy there.

liquidlives wrote: »

I don't have a problem with this really, it's just when for some reason I haven't been in registration I have to wait a whole week more to get it sorted out and get my payment,

This is only a suggestion: do you make sure that your tutor has a note from you BEFORE registration, or rely on them remembering that you've said you'll be somewhere else? Could you suggest a post-it note on the cover? It may be that without a note from you they can't do anything other than mark you absent: I know there's a limit to what can be done with registers these days, none of this filling it in in pencil and going over it in ink later ...

savvy

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

This is only a suggestion: do you make sure that your tutor has a note from you BEFORE registration, or rely on them remembering that you've said you'll be somewhere else? Could you suggest a post-it note on the cover? It may be that without a note from you they can't do anything other than mark you absent: I know there's a limit to what can be done with registers these days, none of this filling it in in pencil and going over it in ink later ...

Good point S_S!! This drives me mad when you've 20 odd students at the start of the day trying to tell you something, if you are missing registration you should have an official note from parents etc, for EMA purposes.

bestpud

liquidlives wrote: »

You know that reminds me, I'm supposed to get some money back for lodging and meals on a Geography trip to Wales and the Finance Office at school said they'd contact me after the trip to check I still qualified to reimburse me but they never did say anything...bizarre. I doubt I'll be able to claim it back now as the school year's ended, how annoying! They seem to be very good at sending out e-mails to the whole school to complain that people are overspent on their lunch cards but when they owe someone they don't mention it. My fault really I suppose, I should have gone to the office after the trip and enquired about it but I just forgot ):

Kind of suggests you don't need the money?

I can say for a fact, my dd would not 'forget' about money she was owed! And neither would I!

Titch89

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

This is only a suggestion: do you make sure that your tutor has a note from you BEFORE registration, or rely on them remembering that you've said you'll be somewhere else?

I used to keep on relying on my tutor to remember when I was at registration and when I was meant to be elsewhere, but was sometimes marked absent when I was meant to be amrked as learning off site. (or something)

In the end I got told that because I was elsewhere, I didn't have to get my card signed for that registration and just had to write on my card where I was.