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Do those that get EMA all deserve it?

Reply 80

Azzle

1

my hard earnt money paid for all your gadgets and the like. that turns my tummy!

Reply 81

Steezy20

1

Why are people arguing that rich families don't give their children £30 a week pocket money? The whole point in EMA is to get the poorer families to go to uni. Trends for decades have been that children from affluent families already go to university, so they don't need the money. It's not a question of pocket money you tards, its a question of what is a big enough incentive to get the poorer kids into further education.

Reply 82

Psyk

16

Steezy20, that is the real reason behind EMA. They claim it isn't but that's what it is really. And I disagree with that. They are treating the symptom rather than the cause. Just bribing the kids into education isn't going to help at all. On the surface it might seem like it helps, since more of them are in education. But if they don't really care about the education then the whole thing is pointless.

What they should be doing is trying to encourage these kids to actually care about their education. And that isn't as easy as just giving them stuff for doing it. Their fundamental attitude needs to change.

Reply 83

Noobish

Psyk, and Steezy20. I think the real people that benefit are those who want education and in addition get paid for it (£30 a week, and Bonuses) aswell.

Reply 84

Friggerpants

1

Hey, um get a job?

I can't take money for doing bugger all, so I work part time. I don't enjoy my job much, but at least I'm dependant on me.

My mum and dad earn around 55K combined, I don't see a penny though. Don't want to either.

Reply 85

Bossworld

6

Steezy20

You've touched on the stupid bit of EMA for me actually.

If your parents are divorced and you live with your mum who earns 12k per annum, you can get EMA irregardless of whether your Dad is Bill Gates or Richard Branson and gives you 40k a day.

Oh aye I know, i'm not trying to justify why i've had it, i'm just saying if it's there I'd be stupid not to.

Don't get any money from my dad anymore as he ended up losing his job at the end of the last school year so what I'd saved up from EMA is coming useful at uni. Besides in the end it's only coming around full circle - the money I've had from EMA pales in comparison to what i'll have to pay back when i leave uni!

I think the main bone of contention for people (as has already been mentioned) is people over the 30k bracket but not much over, as parents don't have the same kind of money that they can give.

I'd personally say it should only be for people like my friend who really need it, but therein lies the problem with means testing, there's always ways that it doesn't quite work out (ie divorced parents). I can't see the government sustaining the scheme as it is for much longer, but maybe in the future there'll be more background checks.

Reply 86

Psyk

16

Yes they are the people that benefit from it. But why the hell should they? I wanted an education and I didn't get paid for it. Noobish you have to admit you do not need that money to stay in education. Sure it's nice and you'd be crazy to turn it down, but you would still have continued education without it right?

Reply 87

Fusion

20

Steezy20

Why are people arguing that rich families don't give their children £30 a week pocket money? The whole point in EMA is to get the poorer families to go to uni. Trends for decades have been that children from affluent families already go to university, so they don't need the money. It's not a question of pocket money you tards, its a question of what is a big enough incentive to get the poorer kids into further education.

I think there are more stronger motives for EMA such as keeping loads of 16-19 year olds off the unemployment figures and keeping them off the street. The problem is in doing so they are just wasting lots of peoples time and bringing down the standards of colleges.

Reply 88

Noobish

Psyk

Noobish you have to admit you do not need that money to stay in education.

I dont need EMA to stay on education but i would be an M.F (mother ****er) to turn it down because EMA, quite frankly, is great! but i would never turn it down however! :redface:

Reply 89

Psyk

16

Noobish

I dont need EMA to stay on education but i would be an M.F (mother ****er) to turn it down because EMA, quite frankly, is great! but i would never turn it down however! :redface:

Well I would doubt your sanity if you turned down free money :biggrin:

I know I would take it if the government were willing to give it to me :wink:

Reply 90

Steezy20

1

Bossworld

Oh aye I know, i'm not trying to justify why i've had it, i'm just saying if it's there I'd be stupid not to.

Don't get any money from my dad anymore as he ended up losing his job at the end of the last school year so what I'd saved up from EMA is coming useful at uni. Besides in the end it's only coming around full circle - the money I've had from EMA pales in comparison to what i'll have to pay back when i leave uni!

Sorry, my post wasn't intended to be aimed at you in particular, just the system in general. Sorry if I offended you personally.

So, in conclusion, we seem to think that EMA is pointless. Even though it succeeds in it's supposed aim of getting poorer kids into further education, its a waste of money given that many poorer kids don't value the education and will not use it to get a better job in the long run.

We have also decided that the way EMA is shared out has major problems in terms of kids from divorced families gaining in some places, kids whose parents have non-contributing partners lose out and kids from families with lots of kids also lose out. All other arguments that even kids from affluent families should receive this are crap IMO.

We have also concluded that the money isn't intended to go solely on education. It's for the kids themselves thus the parents shouldn't get it. It's also an incentive and thus should not be restricted to book-vouchers etc.

We have also discussed the governments other motives for bringing in such an idea, such as decreasing unemployment figures and reducing teenage crime by keeping kids off the streets.

The disadvatange of such a scheme have been noted as a relative drop in the performance and thus reputation of colleges / 6th forms.

*edit*
Don't entirely know why I've drawn the minutes of this debate, but there you go. Suppose it's easier to keep track of now. Hopefully we'll stay on the point instead of trailing off on some random point and then 2 people arguing about it.

Reply 91

Sheen

11

erm i knew i guy in my class who never did any work at all for 2 years and admited he only turned up to get ema money.
he had a job working at gatwick (which means he gets quite abit of money) so its not like he needed it

Reply 92

Revd. Mike

17

Stick Man

That post was completely ruined by the "6th form parties" clause.

Sorry you feel that way, but spending £5 per term in order to relax a little and enjoy my time at 6th form seems a worthwhile use of funds to me. Are you saying that everything else I wrote is worthless because of that? :rolleyes:

XxJaninexX

Its stupid. Everyone should get it or no one should.

Think about that. There is no way the government could possibly afford to give it to everyone, so you're proposing that no one gets any help at all?

Also: A lot of my time is now committed to voluntary work, so I honestly don't have time to get a proper job, besides working on the tills of the school canteen one lunch period a week, and getting to and from the hospital where I volunteer is very expensive.

Aaaaages ago, I posted a thread, asking people who did not receive EMA and who disagreed with the system whether they would accept the free money if they were eligible. Iirc, a lot of people said yes.

Reply 93

ntf

EMA is the worst thing this govt. has done to this country. why the hell do kids need bribing to stay on at college? if kids don't want to go in the first place, why should free money make them stay on? it saps the economy, creates dischord amongst people and only serves to widen the class gap.

anyway, it WONT help kids go to uni. i'm sure many of you don;t realise how expenisve uni is and well, even with bursaries and the like, the poorest kids who actually NEED EMA wont be able to fund themselves. and those disgusting leeches that take it but don't need it...you dont deserve the pleasure of living on this earth.

Reply 94

*Ridwan*

1

I have been late more than 5 times this term.

Recently I have been coming on time :biggrin:

Today I give the update register from our tutor class and my guidance teacher stops at me and says I better not come late everyday (even though I did!) or I wont receive money for THAT week.

He's like ''this is money your entitled to!'' :eek:

But I just say ''to me money's nothing'' :cool:

I cant believe some people eh?

Reply 95

*Ridwan*

1

Tbh with EMA you only need 3 weeks of EMAS (90 pounds) to get every book possible for the whole year

I take 4 subjects - and for Eng they have released min 5 books! Each costing 7 quid and I've still got to get another 3 more from eBay

This month my dad spent 40 quid on books that I needed for my subjects from WHSmith

Reply 96

MissSurfer

17

The funny thing is, EMA doesn't even reward people who try hard. I know a few people who get EMA (and the bonuses) but never do homework/bring the right books/a pen into college and just see it a mess-about.

I think it's a stupid way of getting the uni numbers up because lets face it - people who need to be paid to go into college won't have the motivation for uni. It is also unlikely that if you can't afford to go to college unless you get EMA, you're going to afford to go to uni anyway.

Personally I'm really worried about uni because I'll get the minimum financial support available (no grant and the smallest loan possible). According to the DFES website they expect your parents to contribute £1 in every £9.50 over £22 000 of your household income (i.e. your h.income-22,000, /9.5). Therefore, for a family with an income of £62 000, that's about £4200 a year. No way in a million years could my family afford that! That's all from my mum's partner - umm... is he really going to give me £12000 for uni? No. He's not even related to me. He's got his own 4 kids to pay for. What about my sisters too? I suppose they'll expect him to pay their £12K too?

Sorry if I've got off-topic there!
MissSurfer

Reply 97

Sithius

OP

16

I should of made this a poll.

Reply 98

stud1_89

Check this.....My school (state school) in only the first 2 months, wants £90 off me for Books and trips. How could some pupils without EMA pay for that?

Reply 99

tis_me_lord

14

stud1_89

Check this.....My school (state school) in only the first 2 months, wants £90 off me for Books and trips. How could some pupils without EMA pay for that?

Odd, I never had to spend a penny in two years of college...

Do state schools not provide you with the books to use? Mine always did, and if they told me to do outside reading, I didn't, nobody ever does because you don't need to.

EMA should at least be reduced, if not abolished, because it really is a lot considering how many get it, and no money is free. I have friends on it who just spend it on drinking... £5 a week is more than enough for anybody to get through school.

Do those that get EMA all deserve it?

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