Is EMA Fair???

Oldernotwiser

Forgetful wrote: »

in this light i would like to point out my child tax credit has been reduced by about £40 a week now my sons at 6th form....and he gets the £30 a week ema...so we still have less money each week!!

I don't know any reason why the CTC should be reduced when when your son went into the 6th form. Do you have any idea why this is the case?

Dorato

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I don't know any reason why the CTC should be reduced when when your son went into the 6th form. Do you have any idea why this is the case?

The same happened with my family. Now that I attend college, CTC has been dramatically reduced.

To make things worse, my mum is severely ill after being assaulted 6 months ago and the government are basically refusing to do anything about it at all.

I get £30 EMA but that money has to be spend on essentials like food. Saying that giving students EMA is wrong, in my opinion, is extremely unfair on families like mine where our annual income is below £10,000 because there's only 2 of us and I'm working whenever I'm not at college to get some form of money to pay for food and generally survive. If I didnt have that EMA money, we basically couldnt eat. Would it really be fair to take it away?

worriedsik

op asks if its fair

i can only speak for myself & in our ( mine and DD ) sittuation it was very fair
the EMA allowed her to stay on at school untill 6th yr , she got very good results which inturn secured her place at uni.
If she had not recievet the EMA i could not have afforded to keep her in school she may have had to do what i done at age 15 and leave school to earn.
I realise now that i had potential but was unable to stay in education due to finances which made me encourage DD & with the help of EMA this was possible
personaly i applaud EMA thats my opinion

rev_henry

Dorato wrote: »

The same happened with my family. Now that I attend college, CTC has been dramatically reduced.

To make things worse, my mum is severely ill after being assaulted 6 months ago and the government are basically refusing to do anything about it at all.

I get £30 EMA but that money has to be spend on essentials like food. Saying that giving students EMA is wrong, in my opinion, is extremely unfair on families like mine where our annual income is below £10,000 because there's only 2 of us and I'm working whenever I'm not at college to get some form of money to pay for food and generally survive. If I didnt have that EMA money, we basically couldnt eat. Would it really be fair to take it away?

In situations like this I don't think there's any question, you should get it full stop. What happened last year when Libertas messed the whole thing up and left people without for a couple of months was criminal. Several schools had to hand out food vouchers to students, and others simply quit college as they could not afford it.

Dorato

rev_henry wrote: »

In situations like this I don't think there's any question, you should get it full stop. What happened last year when Libertas messed the whole thing up and left people without for a couple of months was criminal. Several schools had to hand out food vouchers to students, and others simply quit college as they could not afford it.

They're 2 weeks behind on mine this year as well but I'm very glad it's not months behind. Even with this money, I'm not sure how long I can afford to go.

I help out at a farm sometimes and in exchange for my help, I get free eggs and milk so we do get food from there sometimes luckily. I just hope I can keep helping there on occasions.

ultimatedingbat

ceebeeby wrote: »

Because they decided to have children? :rolleyes:

That is a very odd position to take. Why should a parent have to carry a 16-18 year old? A 16 year old is eligable to marry, move out etc so can be independant. I was lucky in the fact that my parents did help me out, but I wanted to be independant and if I could have afforded it I would have.

melancholly

i guess my opinion of is EMA fair is.... pretty much - there are always exceptions and people who feel hard done by (i'm always going to be bitter that if i was slightly older, my uni education would have been 'free' as i just hit the introduction of fees). but with any system, there are people who abuse it. it's much easier to pick up on those people than it is to pick up on all those who really value the money and the opportunity it allows them.

i also think that lots of people reporting what other kids say need to take a huge pinch of salt with what is said. how many people will happily admit that they are in financial trouble or that they can't afford things without help?

rev_henry

Dorato wrote: »

They're 2 weeks behind on mine this year as well but I'm very glad it's not months behind. Even with this money, I'm not sure how long I can afford to go.

I help out at a farm sometimes and in exchange for my help, I get free eggs and milk so we do get food from there sometimes luckily. I just hope I can keep helping there on occasions.

Its pathetic, mine was 2 MONTHS last year. At least its not libertas running it anymore. Ed Balls took the contract off them last year because they were so incompetent. Yet again an example of how outsourcing/PPP doesn't work.

LemonGrove

Some of my friends doing A-Levels are at College Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and even Saturday mornings. I'm sure you'll agree it would be hard to fit a job even a part time one around that. Is it acceptable for them to use their EMA (all or part) as personal spends?

(It was 'Liberata' BTW )

Oldernotwiser

bumpoowee wrote: »

Maybe it would be a good idea for EMA to work the same way as a student loan.. ie repayable once you get a job as an additional tax. Can't see why college 'funding' should be treated any differently to University funding.

Because going to college often wouldn't be expected to lead to a highly paid career; care workers, catering staff and hairdressers might all start their careers by studying at a college at 16.