Who else isn't getting EMA next year?

Yes. Either that or they didn't work as hard at school.

For your information, since you're tucked away in your posh school in your posh area and have no idea what life is like for people not as fortunate as yourself, most people who receive EMA do want to go to school and get qualifications. Howeevr, they may be under pressure from their parents to quit and get a full-time job to contribute to the upkeep of the family, so if they get money for studying, that will reduce the need for work and encourage them to consider staying on.

It certianly should.

textbooks at a state school near me arent free....you either get one with barely any pages left or pay 20-25 quid a pop for a new one.

Please do not make parallels with the financial support such individuals are entitled to at university - the majority receive 100% of the student loan, and are the only individuals entitled to apply for university bursaries, scholarships, hardship funds, HE grants, travel bursaries, accommodation bursaries and so forth. Basically, they get their university education paid for them. How is that fair for middle class students whose parents can afford to pay, but who are hit hard by the payments?

Further, you suggest that some individuals use EMA, or should, to pay for driving lessons and so forth. No doubt they do, but this is against EMA regulations (which are laxly applied). Further, while education is a right, driving is not. EMA is not meant to facilitate luxuries, or fund a social life, or fund a home life - it is only for educational purposes. And all the more reason for it not to be in the form of cash handouts, but school-issued vouchers instead.

In that case they should not be there because they clearly not interested in getting a qualification at the end of it all

Further proof that EMA money should be given to the school not the student therefore everyone will be able to benefit from nice new textbooks and not just poor people!

Yes, but the EMA is nothing to do with that. The EMA payment is not intended to subsidise cash which could be attained from working. It is for educational-related purchases, so it will not "reduce the need for work" because if they are required to "contribute to the upkeep of the family" the EMA cannot help there.

Then the school really should be closed down!

Further, that does not negate the argument that EMA should be in the form of vouchers which can only be used for stationary, textbooks and so forth. Oh - you never did address the issue of transport in my last post...

Of course it can because the students who receive EMA can give all or some of it to their parents to help with costs, whereas if they didn't get EMA they'd have to get a job to be able to do this.

Yes, but the EMA is nothing to do with that. The EMA payment is not intended to subsidise cash which could be attained from working. It is for educational-related purchases, so it will not "reduce the need for work" because if they are required to "contribute to the upkeep of the family" the EMA cannot help there.

Yes, but is it not better that they get the qualification at the end of it?

well im entitled to my opinion. how can you call my comment naive and stupid. i come from a bad area in london, i have to try very hard to keep myself going in college. about 90% of my college get EMA and I am the one who has to sit there everyday listening to these people interupting my learning. yes everyone talks from time to time but this is constantly to the point my teacher breaks down and cries becasue no one is listening to her and I AM TRYING TO LEARN! Ema was created to try and encourage people to continue to learn. how is it encouraging them to learn when they struggle to get into an A-level class in the first place and when they are there do nothing for themselves but disrupt my learning in the process. it would be extremly ignorant of me to generalise the whole of the UK EMA claimers. i can only talk from experience, and my experience is that the EMA claimers of my college bring disruption. i have actually head them say it for themselves...they only come for the money. some of them sat in the recent exams and slept because they dont want qualifications THEY WANT MONEY!!!!!

i am entitled to my opinion and my opinion (based on my perceptions from my college) is that EMA is a waste of money, the system is corrupt! i am not against money being given to those "deserving" cases but the governement needs to address this issue. as previous members have said...why isnt the money given directly to the school to buy books etc or the money come in the form of vouchers so it cannot be abused by buying 'shoes' for example!

this issue sticks very close to my heart. just because my parents get "X" amount of money does not mean i too have the means to support myself. this view is not because i do not recieve EMA...this view is because i do not like to see injustice. i have the same outlay of travel costs and revision books as every other student has afterall.

i apologise if my language previously offended anyone but i do get very angry and it was a little outburst which perhaps should have stayed inside me

i am one of the hardest working students in my college who against all odds has worked so hard that i can achieve good grades. i do not appreciate having such an education disrupted by people who would rather not be in the class. surely this is not fair on me (and this is what i mean by a division in my classes)

i repeat the fact that i am not against EMA payments completly being stopped. just that i wish i could have a fair education like everyone deserves that is not destroyed by people who dont want to go to college. i think if anything is unfair it is this!!!

It's not intended to go to their parents, that is why it is paid into their own bank accounts. It's intention is to pay for educational-related purchases.

In that case everyone should get £75 a week EMA because we all want extra money and it will make most of us less likely to drop out

It's not intended to go to their parents, that is why it is paid into their own bank accounts. It's intention is to pay for educational-related purchases.

Yeah , your right , you are entitled to your opinion , no-ones arguing that.
However , you are guilty of generalising. Thats what i was saying. The EMA system is not responsible and ought not be associated with what appears to be disciplinary problems at your college. Don't get me wrong. I don't live in a nice area but i don't consider that to effect my education , i get on with it.
I agree that perhaps EMA ought to be regulated to a greater extent but there will always be people who fall just over the qualifying line. People will always find something unfair. I think that by suggesting that you are working "against the odds" is slightly over dramatic , students have money problems it is a fact. I could argue that i'm working against the odds , because i rubbish at my subjects. But never the less its the way it is.
You must also bear in mind , just because people say they are only there for the money doesn't make it so. I wouldn't go to college merely for a poxy 30 quid a week.
I can see where you are coming from. But i think you take this issue to personally as if its a slight against you. Its not , its the system that is our goverment doing what they can to draw young people into education which can't be bad. More so , EMA is in its early years , if you honestly feel this strongly then why not consider writing to them and voicing what you think. i think the whole system has been officially going for 2 years with a year on pilot.
I'm going to lose my EMA in July and i will miss it. (hate uni).

it seems to me that you are making the EMA a scape goat for other issues in your college.

EMA is such a rediculous, unfair...
I am furious at the whole system.