Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

D4n13l

I completely agree. I also get £30 a week and am starting on Monday. The idea of EMA is to help with funding education, but so far my total spend on school equipment is £50 inc. uniform (which my parents have paid for anyway!)
I feel that i do not need to work, and instead the money enables me to concentrate on my studies as opposed to work. :T
My friend who does not get EMA pointed out that she would have to work 7 hours a week on her wage to get what I get for 'nothing'. (I say 'nothing', but its a HECK OF A LOT OF WORK, don't forget!)
I help out with my friends catering business paying about £30 but only once a month, which will top me up for christmas (3 months to go :eek: ).
To put it bluntly, EMA should be used for your education. However, i can not see anyone spending that much!

D4n13l

beautifulgorgeous_2

My dd did not qualify for any EMA but to get decent A level grades she had no time to get a job. If you can get EMA it is much better to concentrate on your studies than to try and juggle a job as well. It does seem strange that when you do well enough to go to uni then you get hit with a massive loan for fees, living etc.

fanmail321123

EMA is honestly one of the unfairest schemes and a massive waste of time in my opinion. As an A-level student, I don't qualify but over half of my year do and get £10-£30 per week just for going to school and this is supposed to keep them from working and concentrate on their education. All it is doing at the moment is force all those who don't get it, like me, into job hunting to try and get money to afford all the things they are now affording such as going out, cars etc. I work all summer and save around £400 every year to try and tide me over but it's hard to spend less than £10 a week to get through to the next summer so it looks like I'm going to have to get a job. All schools and colleges tend to be completely opposed to working and studying but EMA forces those who don't get it into work and furthermore, alot of those people who get EMA I know to work part-time anyway. Finally, they don't spend the money on anything school related as they have already bought uniform and stationary before they get it (which isn't very expensive at all) and they don't need to anything else all year! Rant over!

hudson2249

The way that EMA is calculated is so unfair. Okay, my husband earns over 55k, I am on incapacity benefit. We have a large house but without hardly any disposable income. We have 4 daughters - twins aged 17, both of which struggled through school and are now attending FE courses to gain some qualifications. The other 2 are aged 13 and 6. They do not have pocket money as we can not afford it. Others in college with my twins have EMA and have told them that although this is paid to the student. It is taken from them by the parent (unofficially) This was not what the EMA was set out to do. My daughters are missing out purely because on paper it looks like we can afford to pay for their education needs. They do not take into account the number of children and their ages. Does anyone think this needs to be addressed?

hudson2249

inaddition to my comments above - remember that both of my children have struggled with their education and have to work extremely hard to obtain the required results at college - They passed last years exams and have just signed up for another 2 year course. They i have no doubt would not have passed if they were working. This year however, they have decided that they need to work as they need money. They tutors have advised that this is not a good idea and that they need the extra time to study. How can we afford to pay each twin £30 a week each??? Child benefit isnt even that much!

Rachel_123

I received ema while I did my A Levels at college but I was working as well during my two years at college, and full time over the summer. I found it pretty easy managing a job and 4 A Levels, during my January exams I was working 20 hours a week and still managed to get good grades - and I'm not exactly the most academically gifted person in the world. All my friends at college (those who received ema and those that didn't) had jobs.

EMA can seem unfair but people I knew at college wouldn't be there if they weren't getting EMA - one person couldn't have afforded to get the bus there without that money.

Pont

I was just flicking through the EMA forum and was somewhat gobsmacked to read that kids who have been fast tracked will not be able to claim EMA. I telephoned the helpline and they confirmed that any child who has not reached 16 by 31st August will not be able to claim.

My 15 year old (birthday 5th September), who is on course for 13 A & A*s next July is going to fall foul of the cut off date. I note that Martin has stated that there are some exceptions to this ruling but am unable to find the information on the EMA website. Anybody out there know? I've just contacted Jane Hutt at the Welsh Assembly to find out more as this is obviously unacceptable.

For heavens sake you spend years encouraging your children to try hard at school and they are rewarded by going to high school a little early. For what? To be told that while they will be gladly accepted onto A level courses they are going to be kicked in the teeth for being 5 days too young!

Talk about sending out the wrong messages to young people! Anyway, rant over, I'll keep you posted.

elisebutt65

hudson2249 wrote: »

The way that EMA is calculated is so unfair. Okay, my husband earns over 55k, I am on incapacity benefit. We have a large house but without hardly any disposable income. We have 4 daughters - twins aged 17, both of which struggled through school and are now attending FE courses to gain some qualifications. The other 2 are aged 13 and 6. They do not have pocket money as we can not afford it. Others in college with my twins have EMA and have told them that although this is paid to the student. It is taken from them by the parent (unofficially) This was not what the EMA was set out to do. My daughters are missing out purely because on paper it looks like we can afford to pay for their education needs. They do not take into account the number of children and their ages. Does anyone think this needs to be addressed?

NO!!!!
EMA is for children from a low income family!!! You really think that just because you choose to have large outgoings you should get it???
£55!!!! I'm on a teaching bursary of £5000!!!! I still have to pay rent etc and all outgoings - only getting Child tax credit & I have 2 kids and they get pocket money. Maybe you need to go over to the money saving part of the site and do a SOA????

Anyway - coming from the other side of the argument as a(n) FE teacher in training and a couple of weeks under my belt - I haven't found much wrong with the kids who do get EMA - They are just as interested in the lessons as the rest of the kids. We have 1 guy who is amazingly intelligent and is doing a fast track certificate so he can go to Uni in Sussex next year. I've heard nightmare stories about kids who only turn up to get EMA and don't participate - which is where the bonus system comes in - if their tutor doesn't feel they are participating or performing - they don't get a bonus!
Personally I feel that it's up to the teachers to get them interested and motivated - that's why I'm doing the PGCE rather than going straight into a paid teaching post - I want to be able to inspire these kids and be the teacher who helps them go further (or is that really icky???):rotfl:

Gemmzie

That's not icky at all Elise - it's why I'm a trainee youth worker

pendine50

HI Pont ...ref your post 48....did you get anywhere with this EMA problem for fast track kids? I will be facing this for my son soon and intend to fight all the way