Is EMA Fair???

Jakg

Lucky for some!

I had to pay for my own bus (£120 per term) to get to School, I had to buy (admitedly) few text books and other stuff...

Didn't get EMA, mind.

littlepinkstars44

I had to get a bus to the train station to get to school every day.
The school did give us a train pass. My mum gave me bus fare in the mornings and picked me up from the station in the car after school.

All our textbooks were given to us, and i done 3 languages at school, as well as english and biology. So i needed quite a few.
It was the same in college, we had handouts given to us, but never used any text books....oh actually i do remember having to buy 2 books for Advanced higher spanish...but they were actualy books at £5 not textbooks...i think i ended up watching the films in the end though.

Vickster38

I personally think that EMA money is fair. I have one daughter who receives ema for attending sixth form. I am a single parent who receives no maintenance from my soon to be ex husband (he lives in Germany) and struggle on my income of about £14,000. The £30 my daughter receives pays for her bus fares to school and all the equipment she needs to do her A levels. She is expected to go on trips as part of her course and this she will pay for out of this money. If she didn't receive ema we would struggle even more so it is a great help to us. It doesn't pay for flash phones or the latest fashions, that she pays for out of the money she earns from her evening/weekend jobs. I know some people get ema who don't really need it but for those that do, it is a blessing.

aaranj

I get EMA. I also get a travel pass (not free but part of the cost was subsidised by my Local Authority). The CRB Check that was requiered for my course was paid for by my college, as was the uniform that I am requiered to wear on placement and the cost of the medical form that my GP had to fill in and sign.

Now reading that, you would think "What do you need EMA for?". I'll tell you.

The travel pass that I have been issued is rather restricted. It covers me only from my house to college. What it doesn't take into account, is that the placements I have to attend in order to complete and pass my course are even further away from my house than my college is. This means paying for the additional cost of train and bus tickets, on top of the money I've already paid to my local authority.

There are textbooks I need that the college do not provide, and believe me when I tell you that they do not come cheap (even when shopping around and using student discounts)

I pay for pens, paper, plastic wallets, folders and files. Sure they may not cost much on their own but the cost mounts up over the year.

Food and drink (no, not alcohol. not all teenagers spend their time off their heads on booze) needs to be paid for whilst at college and on placement. I can't rely on my mum for much as she can't afford it.

Now, before all the pompous gits start saying "In my day, I had to get a job to pay for the things I needed", I'm currently looking for a part time job but apparently there is this thing called "the recession" on at the moment and nobody want's to employ new staff (especially new staff who can only work certain hours due to study and placement commitments) so EMA is really helping me (and others like me) out.

When I finnish my course, I will be able get a job as a Healthcare Assistant in the NHS or go on to further study in University and train to be a Nurse, after which the money I recieved in EMA will go back into the public purse as taxes and will be able to help students in a similar position as I'm in now.

EMA isn't just throwing money at kids to encourage them to come to college (although admittedly that is partly the point), it's investing in the future of our country, because the majority of people receiving EMA now will grow up to become the Doctors, Nurses, Soldiers, Politicians, Teachers, Builders, Plumbers and Engineers of the future along with their wealthier classmates.

And with that, I bid you good night.

aaranj

skiTTish

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

i didnt get ema at college - my mum moved abroad the day i started my a-levels and for those who dont know, i lost my dad when i was 9,so i had no parental support at college. i finished college at 4pm, i worked for mr tesco 5-10pm most nights and all weekend. i had to pay my own bus fare and rent,bills etc all at the age of 17. it was the most tiring two years of my life and it bugs me that students of today,and/or their moan that they cant afford college without it. im not jelous, or annoyed with ema, i just think that its pointless,especially as parents get child benefit while their child is still in education. rant over!

If you say you had such a difficult and tiring 2 years ,how can you say something that could have been of help to you is 'pointless ' ?
Almost everyone who is against EMA is against it because they didn't get and had to struggle .
How backwards is that ?
If you had to struggle yourself ,surely you would be for anything could take that kind of pressure off future students ,why would you be against it ,if not purely for jealousy/resentment reasons ?

Tribulation

skiTTish wrote: »

Almost everyone who is against EMA is against it because they didn't get and had to struggle .

I disagree.

Nearly everyone I know got the full EMA and every single one of them used it for pocket money and said it was a complete waste.

All it did was got them used to having state handouts and discouraged them from getting part time jobs. Or to put it another way, without exception, those that didn't qualify, all got part time work, out of those that did, very very few bothered.

Don't get me wrong. Some people do need it and to those it's a God send. But for every one person that needs it, thousands don't. And as I said in my earlier post, just because your parents earn above a certain threshold, doesn't mean they have more disposable income.

Someone living in subsidised housing and qualifying for their kids to get the full EMA could easily (and in a lot of cases do) have more disposable income than someone paying a big mortgage.

We qualified for the full amount, did my daughter need it. absolutely not. There was a trip to Germany as part of her course, she expected us to pay, we said that if she had a part time job we would happily pay, but as she's sitting round the house doing nothing then we wont. A couple of days later she came home and said that the college said as she was entitled to full EMA, they might be able to fund her trip under a hardship allowance (cant remember the exact name). We said that the college isn't and we wouldn't let them as she is not hard up (again, EMA has got her into the mindset that if she doesn't work, the state will provide).

It's based (as are our tax credits) on what we earn. I cant work due to illness, my wife works and as we have very low outgoings, a very very small mortgage etc, we are as well off (if not a lot better off, free prescriptions, free dentist, free eyetests and vouchers towards glasses etc) as the average person on 40K + a year but none of this is taken into account.

karenccs67

My daughter get £20 EMA but she has to work hard at college for it. The teachers are able to withdraw EMA on a weekly basis if students do not behave, do their assignements etc. One girl in my daughters tutor misbehaved so the whole class lost their EMA for that week which annoyed them all but it was made clear to them that EMA is not a "freebie" you have to work for it, which my daughter does. I do believe all students should receive the same amount rather than it being means tested.

Soubrette

I agree with Tribulation, at least partly, my daughter is entitled to £20 but would have gone on to college anyway, she feels it is enough that she won't bother looking for a part time job.

I had not considered the state handout bit - I hope it doesn't encourage those kind of attitudes though :eek:

We are only on child benefit/child tax credit type benefits so do not get any additional benefits but can well afford to keep her in school with her getting a job if she wants a more luxurious lifestyle

I have noticed though that part time jobs that fit in with school are a lot more thin on the ground than they used to be though

Sou

Oldernotwiser

Tribulation wrote: »

Someone living in subsidised housing and qualifying for their kids to get the full EMA could easily (and in a lot of cases do) have more disposable income than someone paying a big mortgage.

.

But the children of families in this situation are far less likely to stay on in education and EMA is an inducement for them to do so. As such, it's been very successful.

flower24

when I was at college I couldn't get it because my mums income was too high. It annoyed me though as my best mate didn't work because she got EMA and I worked all day on a Saturday for less than she got paid for doing nothing.