The Student Room Group

Would You Claim?

Poll

Even though you disagree with EMA, if you were eligible, would you claim?

This is aimed at all the people who believe EMA is unfair. Even though you think it is unfair, even though you think it is a poor system that should be scrapped, the questions stands. Would you take it if you were in a position to do so?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Need more help? You could get help with this question at Coursework.Info
Reply 2
Yes, more money, who wouldn't
Reply 3
Of course people would, the reason most consider it unfair is that it means they end up with less money!
~Bex~
Of course people would, the reason most consider it unfair is that it means they end up with less money!


Exactly. People only complain about EMA because they're jealous that they don't get it, so if they had the chance to, they would.
Reply 5
i dont get it, i think it is unfair because most of my friends dont work cos they get ema and so overall get more time 2 spend on revision whereas i ahve to work to get as much as they do and dont get as much time on my work. if i did get it i would take it though!
Reply 6
I won't be eligible when I go to 6th form in September but if I were eligible then I would claim as there is so much (educationally) that I could spend the money on - music courses and trips to French and Spanish speaking countries.
hobbit
i dont get it, i think it is unfair because most of my friends dont work cos they get ema and so overall get more time 2 spend on revision whereas i ahve to work to get as much as they do and dont get as much time on my work. if i did get it i would take it though!


What do you need to work for? Clearly not for school if your parents earn over £30,000 a year, they can pay it, can't they? If it's to go out and general non-work-related stuff, then stop complaining you get no time to study. If you want time to study, stop going out as much, with the added bonus that you won't need to work.

[I reckon we should modernise the proverb "you can't have your cake and eat it". From being on here today it seems "you can't have your EMA and spend it" would be a nice alternative.]
generalebriety
What do you need to work for? Clearly not for school if your parents earn over £30,000 a year, they can pay it, can't they? If it's to go out and general non-work-related stuff, then stop complaining you get no time to study. If you want time to study, stop going out as much, with the added bonus that you won't need to work.

[I reckon we should modernise the proverb "you can't have your cake and eat it". From being on here today it seems "you can't have your EMA and spend it" would be a nice alternative.]

EMA eligibility doesn't take into account how many children the family has, so if you have a family earning £35,000 with 6 children, they may well have trouble coping financially.
tt5
EMA eligibility doesn't take into account how many children the family has, so if you have a family earning £35,000 with 6 children, they may well have trouble coping financially.


Mmm... up to a point. I mean, if you have 6 children and are only earning £35k, you're going to get some sort of government support as a family. What I'm saying is people often see EMA as a way to get money for themselves which their family would otherwise greedily store away like squirrels to munch on in their own spare time. It's not like that.

I get £30 EMA and I wish I didn't. We earn £7000 a year - if I got £20 EMA, that would mean we would be earning at least three times that amount. Life would be a hell of a lot more comfortable and I wouldn't even have to pay my own way through university. As it stands, I have to support my parents financially, and I'm 17. EMA is what's stopping us getting out loans and other crap and getting further in debt. In the end everything's balanced in the favour of those people who can't receive EMA, whereas EMA is used to calm the rest of us down because it goes into our bank accounts rather than our parents' accounts... people who don't get EMA should realise how lucky they are, and that just because they don't get handed £30 a week, that doesn't mean they're worse off. EMA is the financial equivalent of a baby's dummy. You're no better off with it, it just makes you feel better. (Besides, despite having always supported my parents financially, they've always bought me clothes and so on. I'm told to buy my own now because I get EMA. I don't profit off it. They don't. No one does.)

Although I have to admit, it's worse when people go "pff we've only got one car and worst of all it's a ___". I couldn't supply an example. I know nothing of cars because we've never had one. My parents probably never will have a car. But financially speaking, I'm happy enough as I am - I don't need cars and so on. We get by and that's fine by me. Other people do more than get by, and I'm not resentful, but I very strongly believe they have no right to be resentful of people who get EMA.
Reply 10
I am supposed to get it, but when I moved out of my parents I didnt take the form with me that told the college that I was elligible so I didnt get it.
Reply 11
I was eligible for it, didn't take it on principle.
Reply 12
^will you not pay taxes on principle too?
Reply 13
I pay taxes, NI etc. without too much complaint.
tt5
EMA eligibility doesn't take into account how many children the family has, so if you have a family earning £35,000 with 6 children, they may well have trouble coping financially.
true, but..

1. It is very unlikely to find 2 highly paid parents with a large family.

2. If this were the case, many of the children will in fact be over 18 and independant

3. It is hard to, for example, have 1 child a year and to let your finiancial situation get out of control.
kellywood_5
Exactly. People only complain about EMA because they're jealous that they don't get it, so if they had the chance to, they would.

^^^^^ I agree.
Of course. It's an unfair system certainly but what's the point of turning down free money when you need it?
:dito:
hellohello12
The ones who get EMA it at my school take media studies and sociology, they know they'll get the money so don't bother to work. They can always fail the year and retake - therefore claiming more EMA!


It's the same with my school, but that's the fault of the schools themselves rather than the EMA system for not enforcing it strictly enough. Payments are supposed be to linked to effort as well as attendance.
kellywood_5
It's the same with my school, but that's the fault of the schools themselves rather than the EMA system for not enforcing it strictly enough. Payments are supposed be to linked to effort as well as attendance.

I thought the end of term bonuses were linked to effort, the weekly money was dependant on turning up (well signing in more accurately)?

Maybe its just how it seems at my college?