Is EMA Fair???

cactusdust

I'd like to point out that not every student claiming EMA is a chav. I claim EMA, I'm not a chav. And we don't all spend it on the town. So stop playing the generalising ego and get over it- some of us DO have genuine reasons for claiming. You also have to remember that, particulary in my college anyway.. they're VERY strict on weekly eligibility. Forget your homework? Well, if your lecturer is feeling it.. thats a mean for refusal on that certain week.

I do however agree there are some discrepancies.. particularly as when you claim they take your family income from the previous financial year. Situations change, both for the worse and for the bad.. and it means people miss out. BUT, you can appeal changes to gain EMA.. and if you have a decent student support team at your college, they're usually quite good at helping you financially (for bus passes etc) away from the ema programme.


Mine? Well, I take a proportion of mine each month and I SAVE IT; one day it'll come in handy.

Oldernotwiser

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:

Not all colleges have this amount of funding to splash around; it depends very much on their individual financial position.

rev_henry

I get EMA, full amount, and I think its a joke (but I'm still quite happy to take advantage of free money!). I don't need the money; I get a free train pass; only school related thing I spend it on is lunch, which represents very little of it. The rest goes on luxuries e.g. petrol/car insurance etc. If I didn't have it my mum would and could afford to give me lunch money. I guess you could say I fall into the category of the parents getting split up loophole, but I don't get any pocket money from my dad (who I don't live with) so all that happened was that household income more than halved, leaving me within the max threshold.
What I think in particular is unfair is that if your household income goes down, your EMA can go up, but if it goes up, they won't give you less.
A friend of mine a couple of years ago didn't get a free train pass, so his EMA went entirely on train fares (£6 a day) which I think is perfectly reasonable. 6th form school transport policy is pretty stupid in my area as well. I get a free train pass because I study Latin A-level, which is not offered at my 'nearest/catchment school'. People who study things offered at the catchment school who 'choose' to attend my school instead must pay their own way. No thought is given for the fact that they've been going to my school for the past 5 years or the fact that its a grammar school and is one of the best in the country, as opposed to the mediocre local comp.
And, before you ask, for the past 5 years before I entered 6th form my parents had to pay for my train fares (which should have been full adult fare when I was 16) and my lunches. As soon as I enter optional 6th form I get money thrown at me. Where is the logic in that?

percymoneysaver

Mine? Well, I take a proportion of mine each month and I SAVE IT; one day it'll come in handy.[/QUOTE]

But don't you think that's unfair for the people who are working hard and paying taxes and not being able to save that money themselves so that you can???

I'm not saying you don't deserve it, and I don't think that everyone who gets EMA is an undeserving chav - far from it, I work in a college and see students in genuine hardship all day, and I'm grateful on their behalf that there is a system like EMA.

But that money you get is because the government thinks you need help now, to fund your studies now - not to give you a safety cushion later.

rev_henry

percymoneysaver wrote: »

Mine? Well, I take a proportion of mine each month and I SAVE IT; one day it'll come in handy.

But don't you think that's unfair for the people who are working hard and paying taxes and not being able to save that money themselves so that you can???

I'm not saying you don't deserve it, and I don't think that everyone who gets EMA is an undeserving chav - far from it, I work in a college and see students in genuine hardship all day, and I'm grateful on their behalf that there is a system like EMA.

But that money you get is because the government thinks you need help now, to fund your studies now - not to give you a safety cushion later.[/QUOTE]
Would you rather I ensured I spent it all mineon electronics and booze then? I know you weren't talking to me but I try and save as much of mine as I can. No point spending it unecessarily; I just don't have £30 of school type stuff to buy each week.

Oldernotwiser

percymoneysaver wrote: »

But that money you get is because the government thinks you need help now, to fund your studies now - not to give you a safety cushion later.

The government thinks that someone in that situation needs encouragement to stay in education - they couldn't care less what the money is spent on!

looby75

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:

she's not in college she's in school, she chose to stay on at her senior school as it's one of the best in in the country for A-levels. She's more than ready and willing to pay for her extra cost via her EMA as far as she's concerned that's what it's for....to support her through sixth form. I totally agree with her on that point.

LemonGrove

looby75 wrote: »

she's not in college she's in school, she chose to stay on at her senior school as it's one of the best in in the country for A-levels. She's more than ready and willing to pay for her extra cost via her EMA as far as she's concerned that's what it's for....to support her through sixth form. I totally agree with her on that point.

Well I was just trying to help your daughter by advising of the financial support available, but instead my views and what I do with my money is being criticised.

EMA is money paid to us, for us to use as we feel neccesary. If it was for solely spending on books, equipment, whatever, they would surely introduce something along the lines of an account at the learning providers similar to prison money to make sure that's all it's used for. Plus, shouldn't it be a chance for those receiving it to learn financial responsibility by managing it themselves rather than it being dictated to them?

percymoneysaver, sorry but your attitude annoys me too. As you like quotes;

"or anything useful to continue learning."

Do you not know how broad that statement is? That could be anything, a new pair of shoes to reward yourself, a night out at the weekend as an incentive to keep you going through the week, saving for a holiday to refresh you and stopping you tiring of the course.

percymoneysaver

I'm sorry to have offended you, LemonGrove, but I really don't think that EMA was intended for you to go buy a pair of shoes or have a night out.

But I agree, no-one can control what you do with your money. It's entirely up to you. All I'm saying is that I'm sure that the intention when EMA was set up was to help you go to college, and buy the things you need to stay there and achieve the results you are after. I'm sure the original idea was not "let's give students chill out money as that will help them stay in school". That's what part-time jobs are for.
(And yes, before you say it, I know there's a recession. I have 2 teenagers myself and they are both unsuccessfully looking for part time jobs at the moment, so that they can have extra spending money.)

In 10-20 years time, when you're older, and you're the taxpayer supporting other people's children who think they have the right to use your money to buy shoes because that "helps them stay at school", then maybe we should have this conversation again.

Oldernotwiser

percymoneysaver wrote: »

But I agree, no-one can control what you do with your money. It's entirely up to you. All I'm saying is that I'm sure that the intention when EMA was set up was to help you go to college, and buy the things you need to stay there and achieve the results you are after. I'm sure the original idea was not "let's give students chill out money as that will help them stay in school". That's what part-time jobs are for.

As I said before, the intention was both to enable and encourage young people who wouldn't normally stay on in education to do so. If giving them extra spending money enables them to stay on then the aim will have been achieved.

You don't encourage underachieving kids by telling them that the money has to be spent on books and things - for many of them that will be no encouragement whatsoever!