Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

dinigrow

This is a difficult one.

Despite what it's described as in the prospectus, the course is not officially full time.

In the past, the College where I am based has agreed to pay 'offsite' students and we have provided an attendance card which the student get signed by both their course tutor and their placement supervisor each week to confirm 100% attendance and payments were made accordingly. This was only agreed because we include the placement hours in our full-time, college-based courses, so we felt it unfair to exclude them in these cases.

However, Colleges should really not be allowing students aged 16-19 to take the 'part time' option anyway! The full-time, college-based course (including placement) should be encouraged in all cases unless the student is 19+ (mature) and already working.

This does, however, mean that now the Adult Learning Grant (ALG) is a national scheme, you find that a large number of mature students are successfully applying for and claiming this instead.

So I guess, ultimately, it is at the College's discretion as to whether or not they record the weekly learning hours as 3-6 (i.e. the college session), or include the placement hours, taking it to a total of 15 or so.

Definitely speak to someone in the student services department to get clarification, but like I say, they should simply request that your daughter enrols on the equivalent, full time course.

emagirl

im not sure on all the tax credit stuff , but i do know that if most students make sure they go to college and get good qualifications then in the future they could be paid upto £3000 a year more .

does anyone watch Sofia's Diary ? i saw an episode a few days ago and to my suprise they show ema ! http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5951832808&MID=24324&TUUID=4ad81d79-1e51-4553-a591-e510d28b6497

sharky007

emagirl wrote: »

i found it really helpfull , i used mine to pay for my college make-up kit and my sister used hers for travel to from college , what course(s) are you studying ?

I'm in my second year and doing A-Level Psychology, Sociology, Media and English :j Hoping to do English next year at uni!
I checked out Sofia's Diary :T

choccyface2006

Well I applied for EMA for my daughter on the 26th June. I know the application was processed on 20th Aug but not had her NOE yet, any idea when we will get it? I am getting so fed up with it. Will she get it backdated from her first week in college (last week)?

Sarah

DailyClicker

I didn't realise until today that people who carry on with full-time education and more qualifications can earn upto £3000 more a year than those who left at 16 years old!

That another reason to get yourself signed up for EMA!

dinigrow

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Well I applied for EMA for my daughter on the 26th June. I know the application was processed on 20th Aug but not had her NOE yet, any idea when we will get it? I am getting so fed up with it. Will she get it backdated from her first week in college (last week)?

Sarah

Hmmm... You should really have received something by now, although you will know that there are big delays at the moment.

The helpline seems to be working a lot better than it has been, so try chasing it up on 0800 121 8989... Otherwise I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for it to arrive. It will all be backdated to the start though, so even if it takes a while, your daughter won't miss out on any payments, providing she has full attendance in the meantime.

Your daughter's College may offer some assistance (with travel for example) while she is waiting for her NoE... Although if it's anything like this College, it would most likely be on a temporary loan basis, to be repaid when the backpay comes through.

999

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Well I applied for EMA for my daughter on the 26th June. I know the application was processed on 20th Aug but not had her NOE yet, any idea when we will get it? I am getting so fed up with it. Will she get it backdated from her first week in college (last week)?

Sarah

As others have said there appears to be many problems this year. Here is a very interesting account of someone who works in the EMA offices
http://www.vote-2007.co.uk/index.php?topic=2327.0

choccyface2006

999 wrote: »

As others have said there appears to be many problems this year. Here is a very interesting account of someone who works in the EMA offices
http://www.vote-2007.co.uk/index.php?topic=2327.0

Very interesting, thanks :S

DanielJ_2

Just a quicky about EMA

I am in college 3 days a week for 20 hours a week. I was in every session everyday last week (and this week). Do I automatically get my EMA or did I need to show the EMA lady who controls it all? She didn't mention it so i'm not clear.

Ziggy_Stardust

I'm sorry if this has already been answered but I've tried reading through a lot of this thread and my head is spinning

My husband has recently left work to go to university to do PGCE, obviously there is a big drop in our household income especially as I can't work as I'm a full-time carer to our eldest daughter. We saved up so that he can take this time off work but things are tight. Anyhow I rang the EMA after not hearing anything from them since our daughter's application was sent in July (I have been trying for a few weeks and either couldn't get through or was told a manager would call back but they didn't :mad:). It appears that the application form has been lost so a new one needs to be done. I also mentioned that our household income had dropped considerably but was told that assessment is only made on last year's income an they will not give my daughter any more money because even though this year's income takes us down a bracket . Is this true?