EMA is unfair - its supposed to be their money - not to do with parents income!

[TheHolyGrail]

Why is gov't pushing EMA saying its 'your' money. DS1 can't apply as we are above the limits. Why isn't at least the lowest EMA amount paid to all students who qualify at least there is some equitable incentives for all. The parents can then top up as they want to (and able to afford) based on their personal circumstances. After all child benefit is not income related.

[2shoes]

well according to my db, EMA is to get dc's from poorer areas into further education.
in the past poorer family wouldn't have been able to send their dc's to college as theyw ouldn't have been able to aford to keep them.
so I suppose they have to have a cut of point otherwise it would be too expensive for the goverment to do it.

[BlueberryBeret]

I find the whole thing of ema odd in general

[minorityrules]

It made the difference between mine being able to go college/6th form or not

They use it to pay travel and expenses, I can't afford that. Both get £20 a week in termtime and both work at weekends too

Without EMA they wouldn't be getting A levels or college course (both doing different things) Eldest will be going off to uni soon, with full grant too (and working in all spare time)

Without this help it wouldn't have happened, I'm fed up with people begrudging my kids the help to move up

[Imnotok]

My Db has been on a EMA course for 10 weeks now and still hasn't had a penny they keep giving him wrong forms and changing cintracts and stuff.

[minorityrules]

Also, I take no other benefits other than DLA for youngest and child benefit, I have worked all my life (from 15) Finally they is some help for a working parent and I'm happy to take it

[FAQ]

my BF's DD3 gets EMA......she spends it on booze and fags

[brimfull]

my dd doesn't qualify either
she has some friends that do and it makes a big difference to them.
She has one friend whose parents are divorced and dad is loaded and basically can afford to buy her whatever she wants/needs and does,seems ridiculous that she's getting £20 a week.

[BlueberryBeret]

My only knowledge is seeing foster placements with it (I don't begrudge them it in the slightest btw!!!).

I got travel expenses due to my mum's income when I was at college, I don't know if you would still get that with ema about?

[TheHolyGrail]

I don't begrudge those getting it - but all the stuff sent to the teenagers says 'its your money'. It would be nice to see some 'reward' for all irrespective of the parents income as that what it seems to propohrt.

[mumblechum]

So how little do you have to earn for your dc to qualify? Is that all it's based on?

[Mikafan]

I can't remember how much it is you have to earn in order for them to get it but its a very low amount, something like £20,000 for the whole household.

[FAQ]

wouldn't call £20k particularly "low".....

[Mikafan]

I knew someone would pick me up on that Just double checked and the figure is £30,810

[FAQ]

actually

Your household income (for financial year 2007/2008) How much EMA you get
up to £20,817 per year £30 per week
£20,818 - £25,521 per year £20 a week
£25,522 - £30,810 per year £10 a week

[Washersaurus]

Maybe the parents earning above the threshold could give their children their child benefit money instead?

The scheme was intended to bring children from poorer families into further education, and not as a reward scheme for every student attending college.

[minorityrules]

Our household income is 21000 (not including dla, child benefit, maintenance) Just realised we just missed out on higher amount

As said before, it has made the difference to pursue further education. It is an incentive as they make sure attendance is good, miss a day....lose the weeks money and they get bonuses too

It costs close to £10 a day to get to college for one of mine (bus and train) to learn a trade that will set her up for life

[AMumInScotland]

If they gave it to everyone, there'd be a thread on here saying "Why does my tax get given to well-off families just so they can send their kid to college, which they can afford easily" - some benefits are targetted at low-income families, some are not means-tested. Either way, people on one side or the other are unhappy!

[mumblechum]

It seems like quite a fair system to me (sadly won't qualify). Only right that if you're on a low income, your kids' life chances shouldn't suffer.

[TheHolyGrail]

Why then are the EMA packages sent out to the students effectively saying 'its your money claim it'?? It sets up an expectation that its available when really its not.

[mumeeee]

Between Dh and I we do earn a little above the thresh0ld but we can't afford to give our children the child benifit. DWe have 3 children and have just helped DD1 through uni yes she did have a student laoan and aslo worked part time but that still was not enough to pay for all she neded.
The thing is it is not just the wekly amount but the fact that they get extra cash if they hit their targets.
DD2 has just finished college and I just think it was unfair that when she tried hard and got good results she was not given anything.
So I think as teh op that EMA should be fro all students.

[mum2herberts]

THG - it is the student's money as it is paid into their own bank/building account.

The student makes the claim and provides supporting evidence including details of their parents' income.

The scheme is aimed at helping students from lower income families to stay at college. It isn't really difficult to understand and we found that the application forms were clear about how everything worked. They were (relatively) easy to complete. However I can see that people might dislike the scheme if they feel that they are missing out.

Riven - hope someone answers your question. I can't see why it wouldn't be whoever is responsible for supporting the child financially.

[juuule]

mummee, I also wonder why the number of dependants isn't taken into account as well as family income.
Someone like yourself, just over the threshold with 3 children possibly has less available cash than someone just under the threshold with 1 child.

[caoutchouc]

None of my four received EMA because dh and I earned just over the threshold.

They managed ok as we are within walking distance of the college and they are used to not having lots of money.

What seems unfair is that the £4000/yr that dh pays in maintenance isn't taken into consideration when calculating our income, and neither is the fact that we had four dependants at home and therefore there wasn't so much spare cash as there might have been if there was only one student to support.

Many of their friends whose families appear to be much better off than we are, but self employed, received the full EMA.