Is EMA fair?

He said 'Influence' Not bribe, It Influences there decision as they are more likely to be able to afford it.

And I'd just like to add:



Your PERSONAL view of what it should be spent on is thoroughly irrelevant to the argumen't. Don't be so arrogant as to assume you know the ins and outs of an individual's requirements. The government acknowledges that needs vary from person to person. Try that tactic yourself.

OK then tell me why i don't deserve it then...

If its not paid to everyone you have to have some reason for it but there is none. If it was for low income families surely it is meant for that purpose.

But you shouldn't take into account the money you will recieve for entering education.

If you're not getting it, you're above the £30,000 threshold. You can afford more than I could possibly do, given that we get about £12000, all benefits included. You've already gone on to tell me how fabulous your dad's job is. You're funded.



You're very lucky you can afford to have that outlook.

Yes but what you fail to comprehend is that that is not my money, it's my parents. i don't have any right to it and i don't see 30,000 a year. I get nothing from my parents to meet the costs of college. Don't assume that if parents earn lots then the child sees any of it. Its theres not mine. I have the same amount of money as you minus 30 pound a week.

In no way am I assuming your parents slice a couple of grand off and hand it over to you. But if a situation arose whereby you required their help to fund a school trip/new set of textbooks, they would be able to help quite readily. If they're earing above £30,000 and this is in no way possible, that begs another question altogether.
Are you seriously telling me you have lived off absolutely ZERO for the past two years? No money for school lunches/texts/going out? My mum can't afford all that for me, which is where EMA comes in. If you're not getting it, you're getting that money elsewhere.
And if your parents aren't giving you any of their £30000, I'm assuming they have no financial worries regarding bills. How very fortunate of you to be in that situation. We're not all so lucky, thank you.

I work, every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday at TESCO. Thats the money i have, about £50 a week and i manage with that. But i have to work hard to earn it.

lol, a couple of my friends are using their EMA to fund a trip to amsterdam(weed and prostitues anyone?). I think this shows how pointless EMA is, they recieve the full 30 pounds which is the max, so obviously the government views them as the poorest students in england, however they got by very easily without EMA and openly admit that EMA is pointless. To be honest someone whos so poor they NEED ema would probably need to be spending it on food, clothing and shelter rather than school, and would need a heck of alot more than 30 quid. AND someone whos so unacademic they would not attend college without EMA is wasting the education systems valuable time and money.

My father died when I was 15. My mother works as a casual employee at a marketing firm, with minimum wage. At the moment, she is not in work, as there simply isn't any. That's how the system works. She's also nearing retirement age, which means she can't really get a higher paid job.

I qualify for the £30 a week payment from EMA. Without it, I would still be motivated to stay in school and continute my education, simply because that is what I want to do. I have no intention of spending my life on a park bench with a bottle of cider. After Nottingham's acceptance of me into their Law course, I fully intend that to be a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape on a chaise longue.

The EMA does NOT keep me cemented in education. I do. Without the EMA, however, there is no chance I would have been able to buy the right course books. Despite being described as an "optional extra" to the course, many of the texts are, without a doubt, pivotal.

Someone who whines that they spend "all their money on textbooks", however, is talking utter crap. No reading list costs that much. School trips, travel to university open days and general savings FOR uni, however, do. If I didn't have that money, I wouldn't have been able to go see any of my unis, as my mother doesn't drive, and train fares are extortionate. I can expect to see at least 2 weeks money go on one trip.

Wherever possible, I put money directly into a building society account, on top of the very, very little my father left me. If I accumulate enough, it will help me through university. A law degree is very costly. After I've finished, it'll be just in time for me to attempt to help fund my sister's uni course, probably using whatever I haven't touched from the savings account. Don't tell me I'm draining the government, when I'm barely scraping through as it is.

As for bonuses, £70 of it went straight to my mother to help her with the bills this month. I really could not care less if that's me misusing it.

I don't use my EMA for booze. But if I wanted to, I would be able to have a night out on it. I'm not entirely convinced I should be forced to forgo social situations because I'm less well off. Why not chain me up and have me spin wool all night?

Just because we're from lower income families does not automatically qualify us as lager louts with a long line of ASBOs. That's disgustingly generic and stereotypical. The waste of any government-given money occurs in ANY scheme. The benefits of this one, in my opinion, outweigh the potential wastes.



Aaaand scene.

15 pages of posts and still ignorant arse **** like this is spewing forth.

1. Your friends are abusing the system then, it doesn't mean that everyone is doing that.
2. Food, clothing and shelter? We're not talking about homeless people here, we're talking about people whose parents income is spent on essentials. EMA is to fnd their education which is an extra cost that they would struggle to meet.
3. Being 'unacademic' is nothing to do with it. Someone might WANT to continue their education but be UNABLE to due to the financial burden on them and/or their parents.

now that is what i call an amazing speech konstantine, i agree with you, you shouldnt care what others think because it will only bring you down. You are doing the right thing, i suppose, but youy wouldnt have to worry about uni too much because you will probably be entitled to all sorts of bursaries, grants, loans etc and get enough help with money and expenses. And no the money given should not be missused as you said. Its just some of my friends whose dads are pretty old now and on pension and have money saved, alss will get similar to you except there thinking of buying cars with it, and i am like whatever happened to public transport which is much cheaper. I mean they are abusing the system and thats what really ticks me off.

I dont get EMA so i suppose you could say i am biased but can you say am wrong?

And these posts you discredit for being only one example of misuese help to illustrate the level of abuse, not all but there is a substantial few that do.

And so we should abolish the entire system, just because some people abuse it? Try applying that to the dole and the other financial schemes like working tax credits and see how far you get with that. EMA helps.

once: from the fact that they're parents earn less and pay very little taxes.
second: from the fact they recieve lots of benefits
third: they get EMA
fourth: they'll get bursaries when they go to Uni
no wait.....thats four
im sorry but this really pisses me off when i know people expecting 5 As, considering cambridge applications, who won't be able to go to uni even though her mother earns quite a bit because of other circumstances. One of my friends is in this situation, she has two sister at Uni(who her mum pays for) and her parents are having a messy divorce costing lots money, leaving her mother in no position to be able to help pay, im sure saving up EMA would have helped her out alot. I'd accept that its just life, if it wasn't for the fact that some other people are getting an easy ride.....

hmmmm, well the number of people studying maths, physics and chemistry A levels is STILL decreaseing despite EMA, and scientist is what this country dearly needs(not more psychologists and lawyers) so EMA really can't be helping the education system that much, apart from devalueing the A level.

Devaluing the A-level? were not in the victorian times, Subjects have changed and we are free to study a much wider range of subjects that interest us, not just the traditional 3, thank god because finally we live in a society with much more choice. Whats your point about Psychologists, and Lawyers? If people want to be these then who are you to say they should be doing other things? God let people have dreams.

Btw, Psychology is a science, and can lead to careers in science such as *Shock Horror* Neuropsychologists.. I do believe they are classed as scientists. Dont talk about what you dont understand.