The Student Room Group

Is EMA fair?

I receive £10 a week but my brother receives £30 a week just because he spends 4 nights a week at his Dad's house who earns less and i spend most of my time at my Mum's who earns more. My brother doesn't even spend more time at my Dad's as he eats most of his meals at my Mum's house but in the eyes of the CSA he lives at my Dad's.

Is it fair that he gets more than me and we both have the same lifestyle? Is it fair also that other students can lie about where they live in order to get higher grants? For example i could put down that i lived at my Dad's house and get a bigger grant for Uni.

Also, just because our parents are better off it doesn't mean they subsidise everything and give us more money.

I know it's meant to encourage people from poorer backgrounds into higher education but i still feel it is an unfair system.

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Reply 1
i think it is sooo stupid...i dont recieve it...but god, people at my sixth form have bought cars...like 2 thousand pound cars with it....paid for holidays....shopping i.e clothes....anything apart from things to help you at school!
Reply 2
Is it fair that my friend whos parents own 3 houses gets £30 a week EMA just because he lives with his mum and grandparents during school terms, and goes back to Turkey over holidays? I get less a week with a job, and theres people who do **** all, yet get much more than me.

Theres no point in EMA anyway, as no-one i know with it actually spends it on "education" but CD's, MP3 players etc.
Reply 3
It's very unfair. Just because your family earns £20,000 (?), why should you be exempt from receiving it? I'm gonna be really upset in 6th form, because my friends will get it but I won't... Oh well, at least I'm rich :wink:
Reply 4
It's very unfair. Just because my parents earn more than £30k, it doesn't mean they give me any of it.
Reply 5
I think its quite unfair. I may just be saying this because I don't recieve it and are bitter about it. It doesn't take account of how many people in the household that the income has to be shared among. It puts pressure on parents earning more than 30K to fund their children through college which is not always affordable. My parents could no way afford to give me and my sister £30 every week!
Reply 6
on another point, my school say that if your late anytime during the week, you wont get paid for that week!
Reply 7
It is very unfair

1. Because your parents earn more doesnt mean that they give it to you.
2.In order for your parents to give you the sums the government most will have to ean nearly £5000.
3.The idea of bonuses is ridiculous because all you have to do is still be there, also most simply use it to buy Ipods or mobiles.
4.It encourages abuse of the benefits system
Reply 8
I get £20 a week, but can still see that the system is pretty unfair. The fact is that the parents of people who don't get EMA aren't likely to give them that much a week. Also, it's a system very open to abuse and with quite a few inconsistancies.
It is fair, people who get it didn't ask for it and it isn't their fault, if you just live with one parent who is struggling they might not be able to afford things for their kids! it helps people get to school and buy things like pens folders etc. some may not spend it on school things but tht is their choice!
Reply 10
I wasnt eligible for EMA (despite being in college at the time) because of the "1988 rule" and secondly because the **** local authority decided not to participate in the scheme.
Reply 11
There are abuses of the system, so ****, every benefits system in this country is abused.

At the end of the day it helps the people who really need it, a few get lucky and get money as well. That's life.

(No, I don't get it...)
I'm not sure really. I think the idea behind it is good because some people from really poor backgrounds wouldn't be able to afford transport, lunch, stationery, textbooks, trips etc without it and I don't think anyone should be denied an education just because they don't have much money. On the other hand, it can be abused very easily (eg in the case of people with divorced parents) and some people at my sixth form blatantly don't deserve it. They may turn up every day, but they don't do any work! I think it should be linked to effort and grades rather than just attendance.
Reply 13
I think it's a good idea, but there are some people that abuse it. I know a few people that really don't need the money, but as their parents are divorced, they are entitled to EMA.
Reply 14
This government is obsessed with means-testing. Just because your parents have a pre-tax salary of 30k+ it doesnt mean all that money is a) either available to them or b) to you.
Reply 15
I think it should be linked to effort and grades rather than just attendance.


Technically it is. The conditions state a "reasonable level of achievement" and keeping up with course requirements as two prerequisites to getting the payment. Many places do not, however, realise this.
andy5788
Technically it is. The conditions state a "reasonable level of achievement" and keeping up with course requirements as two prerequisites to getting the payment. Many places do not, however, realise this.


Ah, so it's more down to individual schools and how strictly they enforce it. At mine, for example, you get the bonus if you've been at school for half of the last month and you get all 1s, 2s and 3s for effort on your report (it only goes down to 4s!) :rolleyes:
Reply 17
Yeah I know, at ours there doesn't seem to be a limit at all. About 50% attendance I think. But it isn't the system thats at fault its the way colleges interpret it...
Reply 18
Young people should not be having to rely on handouts anyway. There needs to be more effort put into helping school\college leavers into work.
Reply 19
My college isn't very strict about the whole attendance/attainment thing. My friend dropped out of college a couple of months ago and yet my tutor still signed for her EMA bonus :rolleyes:

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