EMA, money to learn or money to burn?
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EMA - it's a completely unfair system. For those who have never heard of it, this is a plan dreamt up by the government to encourage more youngsters to go into further education after they finish secondary school. It's called EMA and it stands for Education Maintenance Allowance. Basically, if you go and do A levels full-time, you'll get £30 a week for it. That sounds moderately fair right? I mean, you're not really able to earn much from a job if you're doing this full-time, so it will at least be able to support the costs of your learning (transport, food, books). |
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This all sounds wonderful doesn't it? But wait... EMA can't be given to EVERYONE you see... In fact it's only available to those who come from a low-income household. If your parents earn under a certain amount, THEN you will be eligible for EMA. Well hang on a second, where is the incentive for anyone who comes from a decent earning household to even bother continuing education after secondary school? Does the government expect that our parents are just going to pay for everything? I am one of those non-eligible for EMA, and I can assure you my parents do not give me £30 a week. Unlike many of the people at my college receiving an "educational maintenance allowance", I have to sacrifice a day of my week to earn the some money to support my learning. |
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Meanwhile, my best friend goes out and spends her EMA money week on sweets, clothes from Primark and a new piercing. She does not have to spend her money on lunches as they're provided free at college for those receiving EMA. Finally, when she's broke her Mother (unemployed) buys everything else that she needs with the money that she's 'earned' from multiple benefits from the government. Like the vast MINORITY at my college, I'm there to get an education, while at the same time I'm learning how to spend money wisely. Remarks like "I'd skive today but I wouldn't get my EMA" are heard all the time. Why do these people, who are obviously not in the least bit interested in their education, get a place in colleges around the country? All they're doing is adding to the overcrowding problem (this is in fact another gripe). Either scrap EMA, or make it more fair across the board. And in the meantime, look forward to a future rant about inequality in university bursaries... By: Pop |
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Comments from visitors
You sound like a selfish pig. People from low income need the money more than you do. What they choose to buy is up to them. If you don't qualify your parents obviously earn enough for them to support you. If they choose not to and let you starve they are selfish pigs. People from low income are encouraged into education because their famaily has usually had no or basic qualifications which means the kid has no role models who have had higher education. If you don't want people to turn into lazy stupid scum they need education and they need to be shown it's the better choice. Be thankful your parentshave money to buy you stuff and don't act like such a brat.
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people who recieve ema need it for a reason and even if they are spending it on what they want the majority do use it for college stuff and if they do say id skive today bt I wud loose my ema at lease there in college learning, I go to college 10 miles away from my house and I have to take 2 busses there and back plus food £30 doesnt even cover the cost for me. even people with parents in the best jobs recieves some sort of beifit for there kids. sometimes things go wrong for people they could be on £5000 a month then get made redundant and a few years down the line have to go on benifits and receive help thats life. I went to high school with people like you your all the same to god dam spoilt! you sound like a bitter jealous girl whos mummy did not buy her the new gucci bag the day it came out you need to come back when you have lived half of your life and no a bit more about life before you think you know evrything.
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I'm afraid I don't agree. I'm just about to enter my second year in college, I get the full 30 a week in EMA. My bus costs cost me (personally) 42 a week. My income for living, rent, food etc, comes from ME working nights, I get little sleep with full time college and a night job, but without EMA I know that I wouldn't have made it through last year. I'm pleased that I have managed to continue as I have so far, but I don't know how well I'll manage next year.
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They've scrapped it you know.
The next bit is when you get to uni and all your friends are getting grants and bursaries AND money from their parents and you get just enough money to cover your rent...if you're lucky. You'll be the first to break into your overdraft if you want a food shop or a drink once the rent has come out!
Its not fair, but then life isn't fair and hopefully at the end of it all you'll get a better job with better pay to make up for it. Thats my plan anyway!
The next bit is when you get to uni and all your friends are getting grants and bursaries AND money from their parents and you get just enough money to cover your rent...if you're lucky. You'll be the first to break into your overdraft if you want a food shop or a drink once the rent has come out!
Its not fair, but then life isn't fair and hopefully at the end of it all you'll get a better job with better pay to make up for it. Thats my plan anyway!
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For the most part, the EMA is totally useless except for those maybe studying their A-Levels at a tech. Most secondary schools offer A-Level studies and have all the facilities there to support the students (books and such.) Why is it that suddenly at 16 kids need a further £30 for staying on at the same school? This made me tear my hair out at my school, when my classmates had the additional windfall and didn't have to go out and work every weekend like I did. I never got money from my parents.
At 16 there is no need for the extra support. There is a school buscard scheme that allows kids to travel for free if they're more than 3 miles from their destination. The regular bus fare for any kid in uniform is 80p for goodness sake. At secondary school you are paid to stay on, yet at university you have to pay for the privilege? This makes absolutely no sense.
There's simply no reason for an EMA of any kind. I couldn't understand why my mates were talking about having 'being broke' until their EMA came in when I myself was able to get by easily without it.
At 16 there is no need for the extra support. There is a school buscard scheme that allows kids to travel for free if they're more than 3 miles from their destination. The regular bus fare for any kid in uniform is 80p for goodness sake. At secondary school you are paid to stay on, yet at university you have to pay for the privilege? This makes absolutely no sense.
There's simply no reason for an EMA of any kind. I couldn't understand why my mates were talking about having 'being broke' until their EMA came in when I myself was able to get by easily without it.
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shes obviously not your friend if you are blatently jealous of her
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I know EMA is not a good use of Government money. I am a teacher and had a sixth year form class a couple of years ago. At registration, all they talked about was getting their EMA and blowing it at the weekend. They always had hangovers on a Monday morning.
A few of them only attended school in order to collect EMA. Some were lazy in class and disrupted lessons of genuine hard-working students.
EMA is based on the parents' income. Students that worked still got their EMA.
One lad made a tidy some from running an Internet business, but still got EMA.
What genius thought up this scheme?
Remember every penny of EMA comes out of workers' paypackets.
A few of them only attended school in order to collect EMA. Some were lazy in class and disrupted lessons of genuine hard-working students.
EMA is based on the parents' income. Students that worked still got their EMA.
One lad made a tidy some from running an Internet business, but still got EMA.
What genius thought up this scheme?
Remember every penny of EMA comes out of workers' paypackets.
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I'm sick of paying out for other people's kids. Child benefit, family tax credit, free prescriptions, and the EMA. It should be scrapped! Child benefit should be scrapped. If people cannot afford to raise and educate their children, then they should do the decent thing and use contraception!
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sickofpayingout! - 20-Mar-11 19:29
£30 is not enough I get £60 every 2 weeks and travil money I use my £24 travil money for one week of travil then I have to also use my ema all I spend my money on is travaling.....
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Another thing I'd like to add to what I just said is, there have been about 5-6 people who have left my course, just because they can't afford to come in. They didn't get EMA, and are now trying to find jobs (without success)
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I agree with this completely.
My parents don't earn much at all, they can barely afford to get themselves to work, let alone to get me to college as well, but because I apparently live in walking distance I'm not eligible. Now granted, I could walk it, if I left 2-3 hours before my college started, and didn't mind walking uphill the majority of the way.
I think there should be more fair ways of doing it, £10 a week for me would be enough, that's all it'd cost for a bus ticket, I'd be happy with that. After all, EMA is supposed to help these people to travel. I don't think it costs £30 to travel for 2-5 days.
It's ridiculous.
My parents don't earn much at all, they can barely afford to get themselves to work, let alone to get me to college as well, but because I apparently live in walking distance I'm not eligible. Now granted, I could walk it, if I left 2-3 hours before my college started, and didn't mind walking uphill the majority of the way.
I think there should be more fair ways of doing it, £10 a week for me would be enough, that's all it'd cost for a bus ticket, I'd be happy with that. After all, EMA is supposed to help these people to travel. I don't think it costs £30 to travel for 2-5 days.
It's ridiculous.
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If EMA encourages people to stay on in full time education, I don't really see a problem with it, the Government axing it just means more 16+ will end up staying at home & on the dole
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A large number of students who attend college do so only to collect the EMA, and because of this they are extremely disruptive in class and ruin it for the people who are trying to learn. Of course the Labour Government had to give something to the school leavers or they would have been claiming Job Seekers and then their unemployment figures would have looked horrendous.
Parent of two. One son claiming EMA just for the £30 and another son who is trying to learn but can't, because of the disruption in his class caused by students who only want the £30.
Parent of two. One son claiming EMA just for the £30 and another son who is trying to learn but can't, because of the disruption in his class caused by students who only want the £30.
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This is one of the stupidest things I have ever read. You are actucally questioning what incentive there is for children of high income families to stay in school?- Numerous studies have shown that the most significant factor in a child's success is their parent's income- that's right- their PARENT's income- so when you are berating your friend who receives EMA and then gets further help from her mother on benefits, please think about what you are saying. It sounds like your friend needs that finnancial assistance to keep her studying and you need to remember how lucky you are.
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I was a beneficiary of EMA in its first year. It was £30 a week then (2003?). It never went up with inflation, which I always thought was rather mean.
Back then the majority of people were relatively well off. I started working part-time when I was 14 and worked all the way up through my A-Levels. It was so easy to get part-time work in London then. By the time I was doing A-Levels I was raking it in! No bills, bus pass, rent, food etc to pay. Earning £90 from working in retail Sat and Sun, I didn't really care about the EMA money. I didn't need it. Sometimes it was better to catch up on my sleep. I bought clothes and went on holidays (with the combination of earned money/EMA) - never since having so much disposable income.
But let's put it in context. At that time I was very money-orientated and status conscious. Being some form of Dickensian scholar, sacrificing comfort for education, did not appeal. With certainty, I would not have stayed on it education without being in possession of a generous income.
So why is EMA important? Those contracted, well-paid jobs do not exist for young people anymore. If your parents can't support you (or you wouldn't feel comfortable asking, as in my case) EMA is a comfortable weekly allowance that enables young people to self-fund their education (lifestyle?) during this transition phase (child-to-adult; student-to-worker).
19% of white working class kids on free school meals do not attain 5 or more GCSE's, compared to 6% not receiving free school meals.
University education simply highlights this gap. Four out of ten young people born to rich parents in 1970 went to university, compared to just seven per cent of those from the poorest fifth of households. Out of 6000 new undergraduates 2010, Oxford accepted just 20 who had been in receipt of FSM.
As for being money-orientated and status conscious? I grew out of that while at university.
Do not forget that JSA is worth £50 a week
Back then the majority of people were relatively well off. I started working part-time when I was 14 and worked all the way up through my A-Levels. It was so easy to get part-time work in London then. By the time I was doing A-Levels I was raking it in! No bills, bus pass, rent, food etc to pay. Earning £90 from working in retail Sat and Sun, I didn't really care about the EMA money. I didn't need it. Sometimes it was better to catch up on my sleep. I bought clothes and went on holidays (with the combination of earned money/EMA) - never since having so much disposable income.
But let's put it in context. At that time I was very money-orientated and status conscious. Being some form of Dickensian scholar, sacrificing comfort for education, did not appeal. With certainty, I would not have stayed on it education without being in possession of a generous income.
So why is EMA important? Those contracted, well-paid jobs do not exist for young people anymore. If your parents can't support you (or you wouldn't feel comfortable asking, as in my case) EMA is a comfortable weekly allowance that enables young people to self-fund their education (lifestyle?) during this transition phase (child-to-adult; student-to-worker).
19% of white working class kids on free school meals do not attain 5 or more GCSE's, compared to 6% not receiving free school meals.
University education simply highlights this gap. Four out of ten young people born to rich parents in 1970 went to university, compared to just seven per cent of those from the poorest fifth of households. Out of 6000 new undergraduates 2010, Oxford accepted just 20 who had been in receipt of FSM.
As for being money-orientated and status conscious? I grew out of that while at university.
Do not forget that JSA is worth £50 a week
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I think there should be some grants to only a select few students who genuinely struggle for money, rather than to pretty much everyone who enters further education. A lot of people I know who receive EMA only get it because their parents are separated so obviously their household income is lower, but the government seem to have forgotten that a lot of them will have financial support from the other parent who they don't live with full time so they're really not as "deprived" as they think they are. One boy I know who gets £30 per week EMA lives with his mum, but also receives another £70 per week from his dad, then brags that he spends it all on clothes and expensive appliances for his room. I know for a fact that his parents salaries put together add up to more than my parents salaries put together. I'm not eligible for EMA because my parents are together and earn just above the limit, but that doesn't mean they are willing to give me £30 a week for doing nothing. I have a part time job on minimum wage and I have to work for six hours a week on top of studying for Alevels to earn the same amount that a lot of people my age are given by the government for just turning up to college... I don't understand how people think this is fair at all.
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I could not agree any more. My parents are only just over the limit - but with all the debt from recent expenses such as my sisters university and car repairs and supporting my granmother - we're not so well off. It is a completely unjust system to give some money but not others, solely based on what our PARENTS earn.. So what if my parents earn more than theirs? Its wrong to assume they GIVE me £30 a week or pay for my stuff; Because they dont. Either give the money to every student or none at all, only then will it be fair.
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im trying to get a job but im in college 3days a week and I look after my mum at the weekend so its only a monday, a tuesday afternoon and a friday a need to work. I live in the north west does anyone now were are take on.
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This is so true, all I hear around my college is that they would skip lessons if it meant they could still get their EMA money. Quite a lot of the other students actually plan their week out to see how many they can skip and still get away with it. There's even a few who get EMA yet still come into school with some damn fine designer ass clothes (they get money from their parents AND the 30 quid a week). I get two pounds a day for lunch and I can't even earn any money with a job because I'm still 15. This should go on FML.com...
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This is such a one sided argument. My parents are divorced and so my mum has to work and bring up 3 kids, one with a minor disability, pretty much on her own. EMA is there for poorer students who can't afford the cost of college. Things such as bus passes (£330 a year thank you) subject field trips and for books and college equipment. The fact is that if you don't get EMA then your parents are earning more that £31,000 a year. That doesn't make you rich, but your a lot more well off than people down here in Cornwall where the average wage is £18,768.
I agree though that £30 a week is a bit much but you have to remember that this is a (fairly) new system and had labour stayed in power then it would have been reviewed. The bonuses have already been scrapped. Anyway, in today's budget report EMA is being replaced with a system that benefits only the most disadvantaged children. Make what you will of this but it's going to be cut.
Maybe you should gripe about the unfairness of this governments cuts?
I agree though that £30 a week is a bit much but you have to remember that this is a (fairly) new system and had labour stayed in power then it would have been reviewed. The bonuses have already been scrapped. Anyway, in today's budget report EMA is being replaced with a system that benefits only the most disadvantaged children. Make what you will of this but it's going to be cut.
Maybe you should gripe about the unfairness of this governments cuts?
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