Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Article Discussion

westferret

Personally i think ema has been done in the wrong way. I got £30 a week and saved it for uni which i'm at now and personally thinki is the way it should be used. Other people i know brought games, ipods, bike parts and other thinks not slightly linked to education because unless you buy rubbish and thinks you don't need it's hard to buy £20 of edcational stuff each week. My friends who didn't get think it's unfair as just because their parents earn over 30k doesn't mean they'll £30 a week. I believe it should be an all or nothing system. If people are on a low income it should be reflected in the benefits. The system should be to reward people who get good grades and high attendance which can be used in any way for doing well so can be used for things like uni or if they choose a treat for themselves.

jimmy_mumu

westferret wrote: »

Personally i think ema has been done in the wrong way. I got £30 a week and saved it for uni which i'm at now and personally thinki is the way it should be used. Other people i know brought games, ipods, bike parts and other thinks not slightly linked to education because unless you buy rubbish and thinks you don't need it's hard to buy £20 of edcational stuff each week. My friends who didn't get think it's unfair as just because their parents earn over 30k doesn't mean they'll £30 a week. I believe it should be an all or nothing system. If people are on a low income it should be reflected in the benefits. The system should be to reward people who get good grades and high attendance which can be used in any way for doing well so can be used for things like uni or if they choose a treat for themselves.

and the people who have a poor education and on benefits should not be allowed to treat themselves. is that what your saying ? i really hope not.

Pont

Pendine

I haven't heard anything back yet but have been promised a full reply within 17 days (another 3 or 4 days to go yet). I intend to fight all the way too as this ruling is totally unfair. My daughter worked alongside kids who were 2 or 3 years older than her right from day 1 in primary school. Now to say that she won't receive the same treatment as all of her friends going onto A level courses, at the same time as her, is devoid of all fairness (and commonsense). In her case it won't be 'extra' money but 'essential' help towards her bus fares to get to college. The EMA certainly won't pay for all of the extra associated expenses but may just soften the blow a little.

Hang in there Pendine (and all others in the same situation). Contact MPs, AMs, SMPs and all others you can think of - I have done so. Wonder what the press would make of this since the Ed. Dept. are always spouting off about ALL young people being able to fullfil their academic potential!

Oldernotwiser

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?

55K (plus your benefits)is a good income, even to support a family of 6. I'm not sure that many people would wish to see a family on this level of income subsidised out of public funds. I would have thought that this level of income was ample to fund your children's educational needs. You can't really mean that you can't afford pocket money on this sort of income!

Oldernotwiser

Wiggynut wrote: »

what about mature students?
I left school at 15 and would love to study... I train people up in work but I get paid 5,000 less than others. I've changed jobs now but I can never earn more yet I have lots of skills and experience! I would need to study part-time and I only earn 15,000 at the moment! any ideas or has any one been in a similar situation?

Although you'd only be eligible for ALG if you were studying full time, you can now get your fees paid for your first level 2 and level 3 courses. Alternatively, this level of income would allow you financial help to study with the OU.

danielle0817

I take 4 a levels which includes an art subject so ive spent about £100 on supplies for books, pencils and things for other subjects! and about the post early on about it is the self employed people that get it all is is not at all. My dads self employed worked since he was 15 for himself, looks after us (fam of 4), gets all his own work etc and gets nothing, now he is having to give me money just to get through which shouldnt be the case! EMA should be everybody who goes to further education at a fixed amount no matter how much your parents earn! just coz your dad could have a ferrarri, your mam has a porshe and own a 20 bedroomed house this DOESNT MEAN YOUR PARENTS ARE GOING TO GIVE YOU £30 TO GO TO COLLEGE OR A £100 JUST COZ ITS CHRISTMAS!!!!! really annoys me just think why should i go there work really really hard and get nothing to look forward to or to help!!!!!! DISCRIMINATION AND UNFAIRNESS OR WHAT???????????? :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: and now they are offering to pay for books etc. its like all them people who try hard yeah we want your grades but your family have worked hard all their lives so were not giving you nothing ahhhhhhh how annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!! something should be done about it!!

Pont

Well said Danielle - I couldn't agree more with you!

Also Pendine - there's still emails going around (re: fast-tracked kids) in cyberspace between myself and my 'elected' representatives. Are you by any chance living in Scotland? If so the rulings regarding the EMA are different (see below).

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]2005/06[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st March 1988 and 30th September 1989 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Aug 2005)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st October 1989 and 28th February 1990 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Jan 2006)[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]2006/07 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st March 1988 and 30th September 1990 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Aug 2006)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st October 1990 and 28th February 1991 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Jan 2007)[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]2007/08[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st March 1988 and 30th September 1991 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Aug 2007)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]born between 1st October 1991 and 28th February 1992 (EMA paid [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Jan 2008)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]......................................................[/SIZE][/FONT]
The rules for this September 2008/09 academic year in Scotland are the same so we can work out so long as your birthday is before February 28th you will get part of the EMA if not all of it. At present, in England and Wales, if you are born after the 31st August you get a big fat zilch for the entire year. At the risk of sounding churlish - not fair methinks!

Anyway, watch this space, I'll report back with any news.

The_One_Who

The thing is in England and Wales the entire school system is different. They have different cut offs for when children start school and so should have different cut offs for EMA.

With any kind of grant or bursary there are going to be people who miss out. That's life. I doubt they can afford to give it to everyone.

If parents are earning over the threshold it is assumed that they would be able to help you out if you needed money. It is the same once you start university, everything is scaled according to parental income.

I knew someone who's family income was well over £70,000 (compared to my family's £10,000ish) and she was wanting her university to give her a scholarship, a bursary, everything she could get. As well as asking local charitable funds for help! It's not like she was wanting to go to an American Ivy or anything. Now, she didn't get anything. Another of my friends had to sacrifice doing a course that was perfect for her because she couldn't afford it. She accepted that and is now doing a course that is similar.

Rosemary7391

I wouldn't object to EMA if it was actually used for education. But my friends who get it all use it as 'petty spending money'. Education doesn't cost £30 a week. If people really can't afford it then there should be a grant at the start of the year and then a free bus pass. That would cover the vast majority of expenses, whereas with EMA now some people get paid for doing the same (Or less!) than others, and use it for games etc. It isn't fair, and its an avoidable unfairness.

Charis

Does anyone know if the child's income is counted towards EMA? If the child has a Saturday job could it push the household income into the next bracket or even off the scale?
Charis