From school to 6th form money help!!

stephbond89

I am writing on behalf of my brother, he is 16 and leaving school in a few mOnths and heading off to 6th form to do his a levels, when I went to college I got the EMA Of £30 a week but this has stopped now.

He will be in college full time but at the minute has a part time jOb as a chef, which he will be trying to keep up when studying, I have looked into income support and job seekers allOwance but it doesn't seem he will be able to get these, going to college costs money, books, statiOnary, etc and then on top of that is the cost of travel, in school he gets a free bus pass, free meals, and he doesn't have to buy the text books. My mum and dad won't. E able to afford to pay out for all of this?

Its all changed since I was in college so I don't know what he does about money and what he may be entitled to, I know when I was in college I couldn't have lived without my ema where travel etc was concerned, anybody be able to advise on this?

Steph x

Dunroamin

As your parents will carry on being able to claim child benefit and child tax credits for him whilst he is in full time education (as they did for you) then they are expected to use this money to support him. If he were to leave education they would be considerably worse off.

bambinaUK

The EMA was replaced by a bursary. Each Sixth Form College manages the amount and sets the criteria for who receives it and how much. Contact Student Services or Student Finance at the Sixth Form he will be attending and they should be able to provide you with information and no doubt a means test form. I doubt it will be £30 per week though, I think top payment is now £20.

As the previous poster stated, your parents will continue to be able to claim Child Benefit for him, they will receive a letter in the post asking if your brother is continuing with his education and where he intends to study.

Derivative

Sixth form expenses are minimal, he shouldn't have too much to worry about.

My college offered subsidised bus travel - £6 weekly, or 50p a day if you take the 'college bus'. That should be the only major expense. Granted, it might be more for him - look into getting a bike?

Food - well, it's only the same as him being at home, surely? Make a packed lunch. Costs nothing 'extra'.

Stationery and books - I didn't have to buy a single book for my courses, and stationery is really minimal in terms of costs, pens and pencils cost what, a few quid a year? I'm at University now, using far more than I did then, and I estimate that I use about £5 of paper (1000 sheets A4 from Tesco), and about £10 on pens/ink, but that's only because I like expensive pens. If you use biros it is going to cost almost nothing.

liney

As stated, your parents will continue to receive the same benefits on his behalf.

I just did some googling and free school meals will continue for 6th form.

Stationary is pennies, and he can use the library for books.

You don't say how far from school he lives, but a bike might be more cost effective.

stephbond89

To be honest it's the travel that will cost most, he only lives around 5 miles from the school and would happily cycle that if it was doable but they live in a very remote area and the roads are not cycle safe in the slightest a cyclist was killed only a couple of weeks ago on the road as its a national speed limit yet has a lot of black spots for drivers, you end up with a lot of people doing silly speeds! You have put mykonos at rest for the stationary and books, I am doing open ukiversiy at the minute and had to buy only 3 books but it cost me almost £100 for them and that was second hand!! So I was worried for him!! My mum and dad are both pensioners (state) so don't have much money at all, but will look into the bursary and you have up my mind at rest about a lot of things!!!!

Derivative

stephbond89 wrote: »

he only lives around 5 miles from the school and would happily cycle that if it was doable but they live in a very remote area and the roads are not cycle safe in the slightest a cyclist was killed only a couple of weeks ago

Of course, buses never crash.

1981trouble

Each SFC now has a pot of money that they can dsitribute as a bursary fund as they see fit. However, they need to make sure that fund remains for the whole college year etc so some will be kept back and then be made available later on if it is not being spent.

In our college - anyone who has a disability, young carer, independent student etc each get £40 per week without question (assuming 100% attendance).
The next phase, anyone with a household income of below £13,000 are entitiled to a refund of travel costs (assumes more than 3 miles and public transport), text books, trips, exam fees, ucas fees etc. As the year has gone on the household income and increased as there is still money left and is now in the region of £25k. At 13k, the costs are refunded in full, at 25k they are normally given half back.
Most students keep their travel receipts and claim it back as a bulk sum, there are some occasions where the college provides the bus pass up front for particularly vulnerable students or those who are unable to pay first.

Your brother needs to ask the college what their criteria for the bursary is (they have done a year with it now so will have a better idea for eligibility compared with this time last year where it was guess work).

1981trouble

There may also be a hardship fund to help with lunch meal costs.