Is EMA Fair???

ceebeeby

swstudent wrote: »

I- I lived with my dad when I was receiving EMA but I now live with my mum and step dad who are classed as those in the middle. Because of their income it is assumed that they will meet some of the costs of my education but they can't and quite frankly, why should they?

Because they decided to have children? :rolleyes:

ceebeeby

skiTTish wrote: »

We are above the threshold for EMA ( normal courses )
But as my son is on a E2E course ,he still will receive it .

He is on a course ,building up his physical fitness and stamina in readiness for joining the army next year ( at the end of the course )
We pay a fortune in taxes ,don't receive any benefits and my son is going into a career with many risks and few monetary rewards so if you don't like the fact he is getting a piddly £30 a week to help pay for kit and clothing not covered by the course ,then TOUGH !

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:When I joined the military "with many risks and few monetary rewards" at the age of 17 and 1 day, I still managed to do it without receiving £30 a week! It's not that expensive to go running round the local park at night to build up fitness.

ceebeeby

student_advisor wrote: »

EMA = £30 per week max
JSA = £50(ish) per week and claimable for 16/17 yr olds where parents are on benefits

EMA = must attend every session for at least 12 hrs per week and behave
JSA = must sign on every other week and say you're looking for work

so, if JSA's an option for you, you'll certainly be better off on that than coming to college

and where a young person has not gone straight on to further study, but on to benefits themselves, EMA can be an enticement to move off JSA & back to full-time study

If it does bribe some students back into/stay on in education and they eventually get their qualifications and go on and get jobs, is that such a bad thing? Really? As mentioned, it would take far more targeted finances to change the mindset of a large part of the nation.

As I said initially, it's not perfect, and there may well be better alternatives, but you cannot say it isn't of need to some and doesn't make a difference.

My understanding is if you get EMA you still get Child Benefit??? Which would bring it close on to the same £50 a week

ceebeeby

aaranj wrote: »

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.

My DD wants to go into health care too, to be a doctor. So when you're both on ward rounds in years to come, you can think fab, I'm paying into a system that funded me - and she can think carp, I'm paying into a system that did diddly squat for me. Where's the fairness in that? (Genuine question by the way?)

ceebeeby

karenccs67 wrote: »

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.

Wow! I didn't know they could do that? But what about those that we're reading on here that need the money to get to school?

looby75

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

I've never had to buy any textbooks ever, until now, i just started uni and have had to buy 1 book for this semester.

In school we were given books, and in college we never used any.
All i ever needed in college was a notebook and a pen.
At school we got a train pass, so free transport. And when i was in college we also go travel expenses.
It makes you wonder what you are actually meant to spend that £30 a month on if you dont need any of these things then.

My daughter has just started 6th form, so far she has had to pay £14 a week for a bus pass, had to buy a lab coat and safety glasses, revision guides for 2 of her subjects, 4 folder/sets of dividers/polly pockets. In the 4 weeks she's been back she has already gone through a full A4 refill pad and had to buy a new one. She has to put a £10 deposit down on her locker key (only the sixth formers have to do this as they are getting laptops to use in school and the laptops charge in the lockers) and has been told that shes expected to buy revision guides for her other 2 subjects before half term. All in all she's spent the best part of £100 in her first 4 weeks, both she and I are VERY VERY grateful that she gets EMA. I struggled to get her and her brothers uniforms/bags/shoes/pens etc, I don't know how we would have coped if she didn't have that £30 a week to cover her extra costs.

She is looking for a pt job, she plans to go to uni and wants to save as much money as possible to help pay for that, but the job situation is dire where we are and she's had no luck yet (though the christmas temp jobs are being advertised now so she's going round all the shops tomorrow to get application forms/hand in her cv so fingers crossed she might get something soon even if it is only temp)

EMA really has made the difference to us, I know that's not what it's meant to be used for but in this day and age it is used like that for the majority of students.

Oldernotwiser

ceebeeby wrote: »

My understanding is if you get EMA you still get Child Benefit??? Which would bring it close on to the same £50 a week

Children don't get Child Benefit, the parents do.

LemonGrove

looby75 wrote: »

My daughter has just started 6th form, so far she has had to pay £14 a week for a bus pass, had to buy a lab coat and safety glasses, revision guides for 2 of her subjects, 4 folder/sets of dividers/polly pockets. In the 4 weeks she's been back she has already gone through a full A4 refill pad and had to buy a new one. She has to put a £10 deposit down on her locker key (only the sixth formers have to do this as they are getting laptops to use in school and the laptops charge in the lockers) and has been told that shes expected to buy revision guides for her other 2 subjects before half term. All in all she's spent the best part of £100 in her first 4 weeks, both she and I are VERY VERY grateful that she gets EMA. I struggled to get her and her brothers uniforms/bags/shoes/pens etc, I don't know how we would have coped if she didn't have that £30 a week to cover her extra costs.

She is looking for a pt job, she plans to go to uni and wants to save as much money as possible to help pay for that, but the job situation is dire where we are and she's had no luck yet (though the christmas temp jobs are being advertised now so she's going round all the shops tomorrow to get application forms/hand in her cv so fingers crossed she might get something soon even if it is only temp)

EMA really has made the difference to us, I know that's not what it's meant to be used for but in this day and age it is used like that for the majority of students.

Your daughter shouldn't have to pay for any of those things, the EMA should be for her. Her college most likely does a Learner Support fund like my college which is an internal programme run by the college itself giving LSC money to students to pay for travel costs, books equipment etc. It was useful to me for covering the £200 cost of my uniform and any subsequent items such as aprons etc will be funded on providing a receipt. Really worth taking a look, it's meant that my EMA is for what I want. :beer:

Soubrette

LemonGrove wrote: »

Your daughter shouldn't have to pay for any of those things, the EMA should be for her. Her college most likely does a Learner Support fund like my college which is an internal programme run by the college itself giving LSC money to students to pay for travel costs, books equipment etc. It was useful to me for covering the £200 cost of my uniform and any subsequent items such as aprons etc will be funded on providing a receipt. Really worth taking a look, it's meant that my EMA is for what I want. :beer:

My daughter also has had to buy text books, folders and art supplies for her college course.

To be honest the EMA allows her to afford these things and so she has to pay for them, if she didn't have it then we would pay for them. I'd be reluctant to claim from a hardship fund leaving less for those in genuine hardship.

Bit different from when I was at school and we had to buy nothing for our A levels

Sou

percymoneysaver

LemonGrove wrote: »

Your daughter shouldn't have to pay for any of those things, the EMA should be for her.

I'm sorry, but that attitude really annoys me.

From the direct.gov website:

"Whatever you decide to do, EMA could help you with the cost of books, travel, equipment or anything useful to continue learning. "

So actually, yeah, your daughter should be using it to pay for those things. It's Education Maintenance Allowance, not spending money for the weekend allowance. The idea behind it is that students use it to be able to afford the things they need to go to college. In my college the hardship allowance is for the one-off extras - such as compulsory field trips, exam resits etc

I have no objections to EMA in the slightest. What I do have is grave misgivings about how it is used by a significant proportion of students claiming it. I applaud the government giving students from disadvantaged backgrounds my taxes so that they can ultimately go to university. I am more than annoyed with the government giving students from non-disadvantaged backgrounds who fall into the many loopholes my taxes for spending money. If they want spending money, they are just as capable of attempting to find part time jobs as the non-EMA students. There is nothing in the rules that stops them doing that.