In March, the coalition Government ignored the pleas of students and Further Education Colleges alike and announced it would scrap the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) that so many young people rely on to afford education beyond school. A bursary scheme replaced the EMA, albeit proposed with less than one third of the funding.
The Government is now using the News of the World phone hacking scandal as an opportunity to bury bad news, disclosing that the bursary funding will be reduced by a further £65m - a drop of 36%.
UCA Students’ Union Executive have said: “not only does the abolition of EMA itself show disgraceful disdain, but further reduction from the promised £150m replacement scheme shows that the Government is not committed to adequately supporting students and is actively undermining its own commitments.
“How much lower will the figure fall over the coming years, as the EMA recedes into distant memory?”
Further Education at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) is material intensive, and UCA Students’ Union is committed to making these additional costs clear to students; making sure those who need support with the costs receive it adequately. The EMA went toward that, and we are dismayed to learn its already inadequate replacement is smaller than promised.
UCA Students’ Union Executive continue: “We have performed extensive research into the experience students receive at UCA and discovered that those on Further Education courses spend an average of £16-34 a month on materials. The EMA system or a suitable bursary scheme would help cover those costs, but these shameful cuts are not only an insult to anyone wishing to continue in education, but putting the future of the country into a precarious position as it enters an increasingly competitive global market.”
The replacement is not only inadequate but the coalition Government has yet to inform how this ‘targeted’ replacement for EMA will actually be targeted, or how it will be implemented.
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