QT: Scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance (31Mar11)

A look at the coalition cutting back Labour's student bribe scheme, aka EMA (Educational Maintenance Allowance). The student in this clip claims books are expensive - how so? Since the Net Book Agreement was scrapped, every book because cheap, but any book on the sciences and engineering went up a LOT.

Unless you are studying a science or engineering course, you are laughing at the cost of books.

As for the other audience member, she is right. Colleges have libraries, and so do universities. Pretending that ALL libraries are closing is a joke.

Let's face it, most who got the EMA did not need it, and they were using it to fund their mobile pones, music, clubbing and cigarettes / drugs. The EMA is nothing more than pocket money to keep students off the unemployment list, which is why Labour thought up the scheme in the first place.

Recorded from BBC's Question Time, 31 March 2011.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• uk
• education
• reform
• restructure
• scrap
• ema
• educational
• maintenance
• allowance
• student
• bribe
• unemployment
• list
• 31
• march
• 2011

[solreavir]

YTS 

[liarpoliticians]

@solreavir Exactly, but that got scrapped.

[kbdkbd99]

@HumanSayNo it is well known that many students were using their EMA to fund buying clothes and going out. I worked through my GCSEs, A-levels and University.

Modern kids don't like to work.

[mikesheen741]

I'm 18 and I got £30 a week EMA. I'm going to spend it on laser eye surgery. No one needs EMA because collages provide text books and information is available for free on the internet. If the government wants to help students then they should scrap EMA and give poorest students bus passes.

[darkhalo1111]

EMA is for people who cant afford anything trolol

[tapefilms]

i hate that fat cunt in the red

[FransN101]

fat bitch



[Cena60793]

That woman in red is an utter moron

1. She claims that "students shouldn't be given any amount of money" - So if she had her way, tuition fee loans, maintenance fee loans and bursaries would all be out the window, and she also claims that students would be able to sustain all that on a PART TIME JOB!!!???

2. "They're closing the libraries"

"But they're not closed yet" - What an idiot

[bringbackmydemocracy]

diane abbot seams blissfully unaware of why this money has been cut, it's because of the wreckless spending and waste of taxpayers money by the last government(and i use the term loosely)

[roflcopter2006]

EMA is £40 a week. I worked 14 hours a week during my studies and took home about £380 a month. I didn't need it, and I don't know of anyone who didn't go to further education because of cost.

The only problem is that there aren't any part time jobs anymore, ironically thanks to labours destruction of the economy through overspending and debt.

[CO2TROL]

Bah bah black sheep, we'll fleece you for your wool. Work hard, work hard, all life long...

Haven't we had enough yet?

[HumanSayNo]

Nice to see an audience debate for once on QT. Have to say the woman in red is totally out of touch with reality. The cost of living has gone up at least 4 times since she was at college. All British jobs have been shipped out to 'mainland' Europe and China. Get real Red Riding Hood!