EMA withdrawall

Percy1983

To be honest I am not against paying for transport to college and books, that way everybody is on a level playing field.

tomterm8

Am I a terrible reactionary when I wonder if the vast majority of time spent between 16-18 in education isn't utterly wasted anyway? I can't think of anything I learned during those years that I have actually used, and unless you are going to university A levels are pretty pointless. You don't learn anything of real value in them. When I went to university, they spent the first year teaching people what they should have learned during A level.

If you are going to university, losing £25 a week during further education is the least of your problems.

lemonjelly

tomterm8 wrote: »

Am I a terrible reactionary when I wonder if the vast majority of time spent between 16-18 in education isn't utterly wasted anyway? I can't think of anything I learned during those years that I have actually used, and unless you are going to university A levels are pretty pointless. You don't learn anything of real value in them. When I went to university, they spent the first year teaching people what they should have learned during A level.

If you are going to university, losing £25 a week during further education is the least of your problems.

There is a part of me which wonders to what extent education is wasted on the young.

How about we make the school leaving age 12. They can then work for several years, gain valuable life experience and practical skills, whilst also establishing where they would like to focus their learning.

Then, at an age (lets say 23, but that is arbitrary) when they will have the opportunity if they so wish to return to education, specialisiing in the subject areas of their choice.

It is slightly tongue in cheek, but makes sense to me too.

blue_monkey_2

Ah, in the days of getting a saturday job in the local cafe to get those little odds and ends you need when you are a teenager in school. Gives you a good work ethic early IMO. I used to have 3 paper rounds, cleaning and a job in a cafe when I was at school. Never did me any harm and when it come to starting work there was no problem with getting up at 6am! Then there was odd jobs down the market, helping the milkie etc... 'Kids' these days do not want to do stuff like that, a lot think it's beneath them too. In fact the other morning I saw a bloke delivering papers around here and I've just had the local rag delivered by a middle aged bloke. It used to be teenagers doing these jobs.

If your child is in college, don't you get CTC and Child Benefit anyway? Why not give it to them instead? If they were working you'd not be getting it. Or make them get weekend jobs. If they were out working they would not be out spending!!

This was the worst thought out idea ever - paying kids to be at school, they should be there because they WANT to be there, not because they are getting money for doing so.

Personally I reckon it was a way of getting more kids 'off the dole' by paying them to go to school instead - at least they would not have to look for a job and still get paid this way. I guess the true figure of the unemployed will now be revealed. But at least we can blame the Tories as they are the ones now in power!

nomoreboomandbust

purch wrote: »

EMA was probably the single most ill thought out and silly idea that Nu Labour imposed on us.

Strongly disagree , comes second to child trust fund

blue_monkey_2

savemoney wrote: »

I do think its very short sighted of this government to cut EMA. Yes it may get abused like any benefits but my two daughters case they want to learn, they dont spend money on expensive things like cars, mobiles, designer goods etc they truly want to better themselves and I encourage them to do that because partly I didn't get there chance to go to higher education until much later in life

I also heard several times government said they will support poorer families when they scrap EMA yet what do they have in mind?

I think most students want to excel and able to better there parents and ema helps pay for transport, books etc its wrong to put everyone the same brush, perhaps if they cut ema a little whilst still keeping some of it it would have much lesser impact on students

But if YOUR children ant to stay on st school rather than get jobs and pay their own way, should this not be YOUR responsibility? Why should the state pay for THEIR choices. the Child Benefits and (possibly) CTC will pay for this. this is what the money is for, to pay for things your children need, in this case higher education.

I too went back to college later in life, and in the evening, to get the qualifications I did not at school and so I could better my prospects, I had to pay for it too. I made that choice.

Oh, and yes, I do have children. If they want to carry on their education I'd expect to pay for it. I'd also expect them to get jobs at a weekend or in an evening to give them a good work ethic too. There are always jobs for students as they can earn less and therefore employers would want them at the weekend over staff that are over 21.

ILW

Seems we are now in a situation where people expect to get paid for everything, such as having children, going to school, getting drunk, etc etc. All seems a bit crazy to me.

blue_monkey_2

nomoreboomandbust wrote: »

Strongly disagree , comes second to child trust fund

Good god, what a pointless waste of time that was. If they ask for ours back tomorrow I'll happily give it. I can only image what my 18 year old daughter is going to squander that money on if she gets the chance. if she is anything like me. But I worked so I had every right. :rotfl:

lemonjelly

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

When I worked in FE, students had their travel funded if they went to the nearest school/college that offered their course. If they chose to travel to somewhere further away, they had to fund the travel themselves.

That is a rule which we operate. Historically students in the north of the city will apply to colleges in the south, & vice versa as they think it will get them a travel pass.

We have also introduced fees for courses (everyone has to pay something towards their course if they are over 18) & travel support (or other support) is with-held until they have paid their fees.

SingleSue wrote: »

It isn't possible for my son to 'doss around' instead of going to 6th form, any missed days, even half days and that is his EMA gone for that week.

To receive his EMA, he has to have full attendance at the 6th form college.

It isn't just attendance. Behaviour, discipline & keeping up with workload are all taken into account. Fail on any and you won't get your ema.

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

We had a similar situation in the college where I used to work, before the introduction of the Level 2/3 entitlements. In those days the college funded child care and travel costs and we had many lone parents who were serial students, studying hairdressing for a couple of years, beauty therapy next and then, say, Access. It was a pleasant life for them, attending college for a few days a week, mixing with other young women in the same situation, without the kids around.

When this funding was withdrawn (my college was cash strapped and didn't offer much extra funding), people would come into Student Services and complain, saying "doesn't the government want us to get any qualifications?". The answer was obviously tat the governnment wanted people to get jobs and had never envisaged a situation where students would do a vocational course for a couple of years and then not use it to get into employment!

It took them a number of years to twig that one!

Yes. With serial students we only fund progression. To apply for funding, they have to provide a career plan. Sudden switches/career idea changes can result in refusal/withdrawal of funding.

Some students are aggreived when we refuse to fund childcare despite them not attending college!

In my experience, a minority of the students on the courses you mention are actually there to do their own hair, or their friends, (you can also replace "hair" with "make up"). Statistics prove that less than 1% of the students in these areas go on to work in the field.

Interestingly, when we brought in the career plan idea, absolutely every single student applying for hairdressing kits planned to open their own salon! As stated earlier, how many hair salons does a city need?

tightrs

life_in_termoil wrote: »

Im sorry but when your in an abusive relationship and you really need to get out quick weighing up all your options isnt really a thing you have time to do

please do not think that everyone is getting on at you personally, they are merely expressing their thoughts on how to get around the issues of your son being unable to work,some of this advice may apply to you and you could give it some thought and others you can dismiss straight away without a second thought nothing should be taken personally