Scrapping EMA

[TrollinaTrollpants]

will poor people really miss it?

goingground - may i suggest he takes a bottle of water or squash to school for lunch. that way your EMA would go further. Its what the children do who don't qualify for EMA - or mine at least - agree drinks at school are expensive

goingfor it I know it seems hard but really A levels are tough and schools would be doing your son no favours if they accept him on courses that he cannot cope with. If he really only does want to do those subjects then a school 6th form probably isn't the best place for him. I have seen many students reluctantly accepted onto courses at the pleas of the parents and they have basically wasted a year getting demoralised and not coping. Better that he either finds somewhere that can accomodate him or look again at his choices.

goingground - perhaps once ema has gone the schools will stop sending book lists home. we have never had them and our education authority has one of the lowest government funding rates per child in the country.

if the schools know parents can't afford the books they will a bit more imaginative about solutions - either funding them, or setting up second hand schemes - whereby previous years sell them on.

The good teachers will stay on and deal with all this they have before and will again, the crap teachers who are being paid £35k a year to teach tourism won't know what to do when they aren't organising a jolly to Spain at the parents expense and will fall by the way side.
I'm amazed though that people aren't more forward thinking, I have had DD1's school career planned since she was 4, she's taken her 11+ this year and her bus fare for the next 7 years is in an account, should we need to dip in we will if not it'll pay for her 18th Birthday party.
Why aren't people more organised ?

mamtomany - we were same as you - saving since they were born. Unfortunately we didn't anticipate that tuition fees were going to increase by 6k a year - so should have saved another 60k for our 3 children.

some people just can't afford to save though and others just don't have the discipline. what i object to is people complaining about EMA stopping because it pays for their kids lunch (and drinks) or it means they don't have to work at weekends so they can study instead (news the other night). My kids have to do this, so i don't see why everyone else's shouldn't.

A lot of vitriol here against young people who are properly entitled to receive this benefit, who don't live next door to the educational establishment they attend, and who have to find money to keep them through this two years.

Lots of "you should find a job, like my child did or like I did". Lucky for your child, but there are no jobs for under-18's around where I live. As I've mentioned before on a thread about EMA, one job that a child of mine applied for, there were 60 teenage applicants for a few hours Saturday job.

Receiving EMA doesn't mean that actually you'd be the sort of person who'd be better off doing an apprenticeship/leaving school. Scrapping it is just another way of hitting the poorer and more disadvantaged members of society, and deterring them from getting an education. There was mention of "go to your local sixth form at the school instead of travelling" - but not all schools offer the subjects you want to study, and reading yesterday in the press that money going into school 6th forms is going to be cut by the government, means that they will not be able to afford to run the smaller classes that are necessary, and even fewer course subjects will be offered at a local level.

The majority of people receiving EMA need it and it is of immense value to them, for books and bus-fares, school trips, money to get to Open Days at universities. There will always be some who don't "appear" to need it (though they might actually) but scrapping it is wrong.

Well no we never intended to pay the tuition fees at all if i'm honest, if i have money i will but i don't consider those to be my responsibility, i'll get them through A'Levels by hook or by crook, send food parcels, pay train fares etc.
If the parents don't have the means/discipline then the parents go without it's not rocket science.

Look at India/China the parents pay for everything and are proud to do so.

And in my DC's school there are more normal people from Asian backgrounds than anywhere else, normal parents on normal wages who had 2 children and will do anything to help them succeed rather than moan about what they haven't been handed on a plate.

Well, people are going to have to do something, Dan, because the money is stopping.

So they'll need to think about how they can move, or the child can move, or how to create a job, or something.

dan - personally i think bus fares should be free - as they were when i attended school. part of the reason there is this 'vitrio' is because its not always spent on essentials - school lunches when packed are cheaper; and in the case of my son's friends lots of new clothes and at least two have cars.

if school trips, uni open days etc were funded out of a hardship fund instead this would be seen as a lot farer - by the taxpayers anyway - though i guess not the students who receive ema

Bus fares should be free, as should a hot healthy meal for all of them, plenty of parents earn over the EMA limit and don't think about what their 16 year old is having for lunch.
That would solve the spending it on clothes and fags issue too.
But seriously the baby boomers are going to look after their generation with their fuel allowence, bus passes etc and to hell with the DC's unless we start looking out for them.

Yes, what people will have to do, is basically live on the barest minimum, or not attend college, or give up hope of attending university because they're too poor. Those with a reasonable income, or an income that allows them to save for future bus fares and school trips, will do okay; those who already pay for school fees and tutors will be able to cushion their children through their entire education. Those who don't have the cash will be deprived of the little that made a difference. The bulk of the cuts and changes this govt is making is to cause extra hardship on those who can least bear the blow. No-one will die from it, but our education system and society will suffer from even more of the haves vs. have-nots.

Everyone I know who has received EMA has used it for something needed, not packs of fags or luxury clothes.

mamatomany - agree with what you are saying about DC's taking on large burden - just made this point on the tuition fees website -which i think is a much larger issue - future tuition fees proposal involves students taking on around 50k of debt - which other area of society has taken on this level of burden to get us out of the current financial situation? None.

I said earlier that we will miss EMA, fortunately mine can still continue to stay at school through year 13 but I will have to help with lunches/bus fares etc.

I have a good mind to keep phoning the school, cap in hand to pay our train fares for Uni open days, it costs around £60 to attend in train fares alone. DD was paying these expenses and for me to go with her. We don't get FSM but they said they can make discrentionary payments. This will be the first time I've asked school for anything.

Is that OK with everyone or should we just not go?

'discretionary'

christmaseve - i couldn't go to my son's open day as i had to work and felt he was up to making his own decisions about uni - as i did. but i'm sure it will be a lovely day out for you.

trixie 123 I havent mentioned on here which subjects my son wanted to take at 6th form.

I said the only subjects he could do were Film Studies and Media Studies. Those were the only two subjects the school had timetabling spaces for.

He is predicted 2 A*s and 8 B's and seeing as criteria for 6th form was 5 A - C's I assumed he would be bright enough for 6th form. Bright enough possibly, but able to take the subjects he wants, impossible.

And that is why I'm not amused with the system which now forces him into college for further education and stops the EMA

The uni open days are Saturday so I don't have to work and seeing as non of DD's friends go with her, she wants me to and values my opinion. In fact I was surprised at how many future students go with both mum and dad.

The sheer well I've saved enough for my kids busfares so why didn't you on here, makes me think that some of you haven't got a bloody clue ...I hope you haven't been saving your CB mamatomany my taxes paid for that

well if you can afford to save for bus fares , tution fees then did you really need everything you claimed then.every penny i have coming in is accounted for and lets get this straight I dont smoke , dont drink and I dont have a large plasma tv either and i dont go out or spend money on myself.and yes im sp on benefits but am ds3 f/t carer

and for teh record ds1 does not smoke or drink and does not spend on clothes either

Oh and ds1 takes packed lunch and drinks for collage and ds2 takes drink to bulk out his dinner to

going - you obviously need ema, others don't. there should be something in place that differentiates and funnels the money to those really in need, rather than ones that want it to pay for school lunches, nice clothes, cd's etc - or cars as in the case of at least 2 of my son's friends.

CB is the only benefit my family has ever received - apart from my husbands and my uni education. now its being chopped and i understand that. but not if i have to explain to my son why he can't have things his friends have, who get ema.

I don't know anyone who gets ema who runs a car or spends in on nice clothes

No US the child benefit went into their pensions And I have got a bloody clue, my mother had too many children she couldn't afford and we all suffered as a result, walking to Uni etc so I made damn sure that my children were never put into that position before they came along. I guess I learnt the hard way and will never allow my children the same fate whilst I have breath in my body.

What is it with justifying what you spend money on

If you are eligible for EMA you are eligible for it, so why all the judging - 'explain to my son why he can't have things his friends have, who get ema' It's no one elses business.

Do we get this with other 'benefits' - judging what carers spend their money on, or judging what JSA claimants spend their money on.

Why can't people keep their beaks to themselves.

Circumstances change though..when I had my kids my dp was in a well paid job ...redundancies put paid to that, all savings went on living expenses ..thats the real world for me and many others