 This week Tory chancellor George Osbourne will reveal his budget. On Tuesday 19 March 2013, the eve of the budget, students across the country will be taking part in a National Day of Action to put pressure on George Osborne to do a u-turn and give us back our EMA.
Bring Back EMA pre-budget national day of action posters, leaflets and signs for photo campaigns are now available to download free online for colleges taking part in the day of action.
Just head over to the Lobbying Tools page of the website to download resources for your day of action now!
The following 26 campuses have already signed up to join the
National Day of Action:
· Worcester College of Technology
· Dudley College
· Birmingham South and City College
· Central St Martin's College of Art and Design
· Stourbridge College
· Sandwell College
· Gateshead College
· Lancaster & Morecambe College
· Camberwell College of Art and Design
· Midkent College
· Sunderland College
· Hull College
· West Thames College
· Sheffield College
· Bridgwater College
· Edinburgh College
· Chelsea Academy 6th Form College
· Goldsmiths College
· SOAS
· Birmingham University
· Manchester University
· LSE
· London Met University
· Hertfordshire University
· Kent University
· Sussex University
 Things you could organise on the day include: · Do a ‘Bring Back EMA’ banner drop
· Encourage students to send an email to their MP by using this lobby tool which finds your MP for you and includes a model letter· Organise a stall with a petition or model letters to lobby your MPS to sign up to the early Day Motion it they have not done so already
· Organise a photo petition, where you go around your campus with a camera and the photo campaign poster and take photos of students that support the campaign to upload on the internet and tweet at your MP
This is by no means an exhaustive list of what you can do on the day – get creative!
 On Tuesday 19 March 2013, the eve of the budget, the Bring Back EMA campaign are organising a Bring Back EMA National Day of Action. Already 56 MPs have signed up to the Early Day Motion calling on the government to restore EMA, as a result of our incredibly successful national week of action, which involved hundreds of students and over 18 campuses. Check out the report from the last week of action here: http://www.bringbackema.org.uk/2/post/2013/03/bring-back-ema-week-of-action-report.html and the list of MPs signed up here: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1067 We are calling on campuses across the country to join us in a national day of action to gather more support for the Early Day Motion by lobbying MPs and also putting pressure on George Osborne to do a u-turn and give us back our EMA.
The following 24 campuses have already signed up to join the National Day of Action: · Worcester College of Technology
· Dudley College
· Birmingham South and City College
· Central St Martin's College of Art and Design
· Stourbridge College
· Sandwell College
· Gateshead College
· Lancaster & Morecambe College
· Camberwell College of Art and Design
· Midkent College
· Sunderland College
· Hull College
· West Thames College
· Sheffield College
· Goldsmiths College
· SOAS
· Birmingham University
· Manchester University
· LSE
· London Met University
· Hertfordshire University
· Kent University
· Bidgewater College
· University of Sussex
We want as many students to get involved in this day of action as possible! Sign up your Students’ Union or anti-cuts group to the Bring Back EMA National Day of Action by contacting Matt Stanley, co-founder of the campaign, on info@bringbackema.org.uk and let us know what you have planned! Things you could organise on the day include:
· Do a ‘Bring Back EMA’ banner drop
· Encourage students to send an email to their MP by using this lobby tool which finds your MP for you and includes a model letter: http://act.bringbackema.org.uk/lobby/11· Organise a stall with a petition or model letters to lobby your MPS to sign up to the early Day Motion
it they have not done so already
· Organise a photo petition, where you go around your campus with a camera and a ‘I say Bring Back EMA’ sign and take photos of students that support the campaign to upload on the internet and tweet at your MP
This is by no means an exhaustive list of what you can do on the day –get creative and join in the action!
 Bring Back EMA campaign celebrates successful week of action
Last week hundreds of students and more than 18 campuses took part in the Bring Back EMA week of action.
The week of action, taking place from the 25th February to the 1st March, focussed on an Early Day Motion tabled by Jeremy Corbyn MP to bring back EMA.
As a result of student pressure 49 MPs have already signed the early day motion which states: This House believes the withdrawal of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) was a grave error because this scheme had allowed 16 to 19 year olds from some of the poorest families access to further education; notes that its abolition has had a hugely detrimental impact according to UCAS figures with 56,000 fewer students staying on in the last academic year; and calls on the Government to restore the EMA, which would require only a modest investment, would broaden access to education and benefit the economy as a whole.
 This article originally appeared online in The Independent
In October 2010, the Coalition Government confirmed that it would be scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance scheme in England which had previously encouraged students from less affluent backgrounds to continue their education beyond the age of sixteen.
Now, students are imploring MPs to reinstate the scheme with an early day motion, which has already acquired 34 signatures online. The motion states that the withdrawal of the allowance 'was a grave error because the scheme had allowed 16 to 19 year olds from some of the poorest families access to further education' and that its abolition 'had a hugely detrimental impact according to UCAS figures with 56,000 fewer students staying on in the last academic year'.
The EMA scheme has been replaced with the 16-19 bursary fund, which is administered directly from the young person’s academy, school, college or other training provider. This scheme allows the educational institutes to be more aware of their pupils’ financial situations, encouraging a more individual approach to monetary aid.
The Bring Back EMA Campaign has named this week as its week of action, urging students to 'lobby your MP today', as well as to organise events on campus this week in aid of the revival. The website lists a dozen colleges who have formulated a plan of action so far.
The website also shows a message of support for students protesting this week from Dianne Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who encourages students to rise up against this cut, which she views as a "vicious attack on the aspirations of young people”. She expresses her belief that “the EMA had a transformative impact for young people, particularly in inner city communities like mine."
Matt Stanley, co-founder of the Bring Back EMA campaign, and president of Mid Kent College Students’ Union, told The Independent that 'the government has got its priorities wrong' when it comes to funding. He highlighted that the government’s £560m budget for EMA was cut drastically to £150m for the new scheme, and that colleges are overspending as this budget does not cover the cost of accommodating all of the students in need. He states that 'the government shouldn’t be creating barriers for students' willing to continue their education beyond the required legal age.
“Education should be free,” he said.
Although the lessons themselves are free, for many students the cost of education can be overwhelming. Many will need to get the bus, require books and resources, and be given the opportunity to attend trips and extra-curricular activities, all relevant to their course and very expensive over the length of two years.
Lots of students continuing in education beyond the age of sixteen will have the ambition to progress to tertiary education, and those with limited financial means may find their aspirations alter when they are
faced with the cost of supporting themselves through sixth form to then be struck with the new £9,000 per year tuition fees alongside the cost of living.
When the scheme was abolished, Alan Milburn, the government’s adviser on child poverty and social mobility, told The Guardian that its removal was 'a very bad mistake' as the EMA 'encouraged progression, attainment and good study habit because of the way it was awarded'. Students were only
allowed the grant for weeks in which their school reported that they had 100 per cent attendance, meaning that money was only awarded to students who were committed to their studies.
Conor Ryan, director of research and communications at the Sutton Trust said that "We were critical of the abolition of the EMA, which helped both low and lower middle-income students to cover the costs of transport, books and other essentials while continuing their education in the sixth form or college. The new fund does help the poorest students, but our concern is that while individual schools or colleges may offer such help to students from lower-middle income families, surveys suggest there is a postcode lottery as the total fund is much smaller."
This article originally appeared online in the Guardian Students have come up with a new strategy in their fight to get the education maintenance allowance (EMA) restored. They're urging MPs to support an "early day motion" – which is a proposal submitted for debate in parliament. Even though the debate doesn't always take place, early day motions raise awareness of a cause.
This one calls on MPs to restore the vital student grant scrapped by the Tory-led government over two years ago. Hundreds of students from across the country are currently participating in a "Bring back EMA week of action". Activists on over a dozen college campuses are organising stalls, petitions, online lobbying and social media action in an effort to persuade MPs to support disadvantaged young people so they can continue to study post-16.
The message is getting across: 22 MPs have already signed up to the early day motion, with many more promising to show their support over the course of this week.
This is the first big push from the Bring Back EMA campaign since its launch by a coalition of over 100 leading student activists in November. It shows that youth opposition to the Tory-led government has not gone away, but instead is taking new forms – and further education students are leading the way.
Choi Hy, the student union president at Worcester College of Technology, says: "It's time the government started listening to students. We will not sit by and accept the destruction of the education system and our futures."
The EMA was a grant of up to £30 a week that allowed over half a million students from some of the poorest families in the country access to further education; almost 90% of students eligible for free school meals received the EMA.
Its loss is keenly felt. Becca Anderson, from Gateshead College, denies media claims that students used the grant for luxuries: "At home it was just my mum supporting both me and my brother on the little money she could bring in. Contrary to popular belief, the EMA wasn't something we used to buy clothes and
CDs. My EMA went to our living costs, supporting my family.
"I would walk miles to college every day so that I could contribute to our basic living costs."
Josie, a young mum and aspiring midwife from Kent, says: "The EMA was absolutely crucial in supporting me through my A-levels at Canterbury College. I've since progressed on to a vocational course which I hope will lead to a degree in midwifery."
She adds: "With sky-high fees and the slashing of student support, it's not difficult to see why students are still angry and are not giving up in their fightback."
The number of students applying to university is in sharp decline – in 2012 Ucas reported a drop of more than 50,000 – and, alongside the trebling of tuition fees, the loss of the EMA is a factor. James Phillips, a political science and philosophy student at the University of Birmingham says: "Receiving the EMA while I studied in further education was vital in allowing me to progress on to higher education. Those who argue against its reinstatement ignore the huge transformative impact it has had on the lives of thousands of ordinary students."
The reinstatement of the grant would require only a modest state investment. As leading economists including Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, have pointed out, the EMA "delivered significant economic and social benefits" and was valuable not only to poorer students but "to the economy as a whole".
The government may be hoping that student anger has dissipated. But we have not given up. This week of action is a chance to send a clear message that we want an end to attacks on education and support for students to fulfil our potential.
Join the Bring Back EMA Campaign’s week of action to support the Early Day Motion (EDM) in parliament to bring back EMA!
BRING BACK EMA NATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION: Monday 25 February – Friday 1 March.
Early Day Motions (EDMs) are submitted by MPs to publicise a particular event or cause, and to gather support among other MPs. MPs demonstrate their support for an EDM by signing the motion.
The Bring Back EMA Campaign are calling for students across the country to lobby their MPs to sign the EDM and demand that the government bring back EMA!
GET INVOLVED
1) Lobby your MP today!
MPs are currently on holiday – but they will be back next Monday. Let’s make sure they are greeted by hundreds of emails on their return demanding that they support the restoration of EMA by signing the EDM.
You can email your MP straight away using www.writetothem.com and the model letter below. You can also tweet to your MP (using the model tweets below) by checking their twitter name at www.tweetminster.co.uk/mps 21 MPs have already signed the Bring Back EMA EDM – to check if your MP has signed yet click here.2) Organise activities on your campus during the national week of action!As well as writing and tweeting to MPs we are calling a national week of action for students to take action on their campuses across the country, to build the movement to bring back EMA. Many colleges are already planning their activities for the week of action. Here is what we have planned so far: MIDKENT COLLEGE The Students’ Union will be organizing a week of stalls where students can sign model open letters to be sent to Kent’s MPs. For more information contact SU President Matt Stanley on matt.stanley@midkent.ac.uk GATESHEAD COLLEGEThe Student’s Union will be organising a week of action to lobby five local MPs. SU officers will be holding stalls and gathering signatures on petitions to present to local MPs. For more information contact SU president Becca Anderson on rebecca.anderson@gateshead.ac.ukSTOURBRIDGE COLLEGE
Students at Stourbridge College will be taking part in the week of action through petitions, lobbying local MPs and online activism. For more information contact SU President Tanya Darby on 01darbyt@stourbridge.ac.uk DUDLEY COLLEGE
The Student’s Union at Dudley College will be holding a week of action with stunts and other actions to promote the EDM to students. Students will be encouraged to tweet, write to their MP and sign the SU petition. For more information contact SU President Kelly Russell on studentunion@dudleycol.ac.uk BEXLEY COLLEGE
The Students’Union at Bexley College will be lobbying local MPs to sign the EDM to bring back EMA, with a week of action planned to get students engaged in the issue and taking part in lobbying their MPs. For more information contact SU President Serena Fan.
WORCESTER COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Students at Worcester College of Technology will be taking part in the national week of action to lobby their MPs to support the Early Day Motion to bring back EMA. Students will be able to send letters to their MPs at stalls in the student social zones, as well as being encouraged to sign the SU petition to bring back EMA. For more information contact SU President Choi Hy on chy@wortech.ac.uk Want to organize something on your campus? Let us know what you would like to do and we will add the details to the list above. Email info@bringbackEMA.org.uk
Later in the week we will be publishing all the materials, advice and guidance you will need to run actions on your campus and successfully lobby your MP. If you’d like more information you can ring Matt Stanley, co-founder of the Bring Back EMA campaign on 07714139738
It’s time we started setting the agenda on bringing back EMA – make sure you contact your MP and join
the Bring Back EMA Campaign to get as many MPs to sign the motion as possible!
Model tweets:
I want my MP (@NAME) to support the EDM to bring back EMA! http://bit.ly/XqAthF @BringBkEMA #BringBackEMA
Lobby your MP to #BringBackEMA! Check out the @BringBkEMA campaign article and get your MP to sign the EDM!
Just sent a message to my MP (@NAME) asking them to support the EDM to #BringBackEMA! Make sure to lobby your MP http://bit.ly/XqAthF
BringBackEMA week of action Monday 25th February!–Friday 1st April. Let’s get as much support possible from MPs to bring back EMA!
Model letter to MPs:
Dear INSERT YOUR MP HERE,
I am writing to you (on behalf of INSERT YOUR STUDENTS' UNION HERE) to ask for you to show your support for Early Day Motion 1067– ‘Restoration of Education Maintenance Allowance’As you will likely know, EMA was a grant of up to £30 a week that allowed over half a million students from some of the poorest families to access Further Education, with almost 90% of students who received free meals at school receiving EMA.
The statistics from 2008 also showed that EMA was received by 88% of Bangladeshi students, with the
overwhelming 84% of them receiving the full grant of £30 a week. Around 65% of all African & Caribbean students received EMA too compared to 39% of their white student counterparts. These statistics highlight the significant impact that the loss of EMA had on Black communities.
The government’s own child poverty and social mobility advisor, Alan Milburn, has branded the scrapping of EMA as ‘a very bad mistake’ and said that “Independent evaluations also found that it significantly increased staying-on rates and attainment.” The evidence shows that EMA increased the proportion of young people who stayed in education from 65% to 69% among 16-year-olds and from 54% to 61% among 17-year-olds.
This Early Day Motion calls for the government to restore the EMA, which would require only a modest
investment, but would broaden access to education and benefit the economy as a whole.
I hope that you’ll be able to support us in this campaign – by signing the Early Day Motion, raising the huge negative impact of the scrapping of EMA and by working with us to campaign to bring back EMA.
Yours
sincerely,
INSERT YOUR NAME HERE
INSERT YOUR POSTCODE HERE
 Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington has sent a message of support to the Bring Back EMA campaign.
The Shadow Public Health Minister said: “The EMA had a transformative impact for young people, particularly in inner city communities like mine.
The scrapping of this support was a vicious attack on the aspirations of young people in some of the poorest parts of society.
Bringing back EMA would help the next generation have the opportunity to access education and fulfil their potential.”
Since its launch last month the Bring Back EMA campaign has gathered support from over 150 student
officers and activists from across the country, and has received messages of support from several prominent figures and campaigning organisations.
Student activists can add their support to the campaign by emailing info@bringbackema.org.uk Follow @BringBkEMA on Twitter or like the page on Facebook to keep up-to-date with the campaign.
 Tomorrow chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne will deliver his budget announcement, signalling hundreds of thousands more in cuts to services, hitting students and young people the hardest. Two years after the slashing of the Education Maintenance Allowance students continue to come under attack from the tory cuts agenda.
One cut that the tory-led government will not propose, however, is to cut Trident – the nuclear missile system. The yearly maintenance costs for Trident are around £2billion a year and the total cost of renewing the Trident system would be in the region of £100 billion.
Instead of devastating cuts that worsen the economic crisis and hit young people, students and the poorest hardest the government should scrap Trident and invest in education and jobs instead. For less than a third of the yearly maintenance costs of the Trident nuclear missile system the government could reinstate EMA, broadening access to education and benefiting the economy as a whole.
The Bring Back EMA campaign supports the Budget Day protests taking place tomorrow supported by London UCU, Coalition of Resistance, Unite the Resistance, Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and encourages students to join the march from Kings College, The Strand at 5:30pm and the protests outside George Osborne's home in Downing Street, London, from 6pm, to say to the government: Scrap Trident, Bring Back EMA!
For more information on tomorrow's protests see: http://www.facebook.com/events/269272529862065/
http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/event/budget-day-protest/
 This week, ten thousand students took to the streets of London in opposition to the Tory-led government's attacks on education. This was the first national demonstration organised by NUS since the enormous 50,000 strong protest two years ago and it is long over due. Since 2010 the government's war on students has intensified. We are facing soaring tuition fees, a lifetime of debt, bleak job prospects and declining living standards - so there is plenty for us to be protesting about.
Ahead of the demonstration, a new campaign was launched to bring back the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) that was scrapped nearly two years ago in one of the first waves of spending cuts. This was done in spite of Michael Gove, now-Education Secretary famously saying in early 2010 before the general election: "Ed Balls keeps saying that we are committed to scrapping the EMA. I have never said this. We won't." The EMA was a grant of up to £30 a week that allowed students from low-income families the chance to access further education - young people like myself. I along with over 500,000 others received EMA and the impact on my family was immense.
As I was finishing secondary school, I remember numerous discussions in my home about how we would be able to fund going to college and being a full-time student. It was thought that if the family all pitched in, we could cover the £4 a day bus fares, cost of college trips, lunch and books. Luckily, we found out that we qualified for the EMA scheme, signed up immediately, and received the first £30 that September. My family lived from week to week, and that £30 was totally significant and at times helped pay electric, gas and for other essentials.
That is why for so many, Wednesday's demonstration on Parliament was an opportunity to raise our voices and jointly call for the re-instatement of EMA - precisely because of the tangible impact that it had on people's lives. Two years ago we campaigned against the first wave of Tory attacks on education that have now become sustained through plans for privatisation, further cuts and increased student debt. Much of the campaigning and the surrounding media at the time were focussed on the trebling of tuition fees from £3,000 to £9,000 - but the most powerful stories came from those who were at risk of losing their EMA and those who said they would not be able to make it to college if it was scrapped.
These stories came from a whole range of people but particularly were heard from Black students of African, Asian, Arab and Caribbean heritage. The statistics from 2008 showed that EMA was received by 88% of Bangladeshi students with the overwhelming 84% of them receiving the full grant of £30 a week. Around 65% of all African & Caribbean students received EMA too compared to 39% of their white student counterparts. These statistics highlight the significant impact that the loss of EMA had on Black communities - knowing this, the removal of EMA constituted a vicious attack on the hopes and dreams of young Black people.
Such hopes and dreams are now looking increasingly bleak as we see huge levels of youth unemployment and living standards in complete free-fall as inequality in society deepens. This is all accompanied by a government dedicated to twisted spending priorities, with commitments to spending money on continuing wars and renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system. Restoring EMA would cost a fraction of the £2 billion a year it costs to maintain Trident, with facts like that it is clear that we should be investing in and funding education, not war.
The student protest last Wednesday was loud, vibrant and clear on its message - we will resist all government attacks on our education and we will fight for a better future.
EMA supported me in being the first in my family to complete college and enrol at University. EMA helped over half a million achieve similarly and ultimately aim higher - that is why thousands of students marched on Wednesday and were united in calling for the government to Bring Back EMA.Aaron Kiely is the NUS Black Students' Officer and co-founder of the Bring Back EMA Campaign.
Ahead of next week's NUS protest march, student leader Matt Stanley explains why they're calling for the return of the EMA Originally published online in the GuardianOn Wednesday, for the first time in two years, the National Union of Students will lead tens of thousands of students to march on the streets of London to express our anger at the government's attacks on education.
One of the central demands of the march will be to give young people the chance to fulfill their potential by bringing back the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Until it was scrapped nearly two years ago, it enabled some of the poorest students in this country to stay in education.
In my own college, MidKent, which has around 4,500 students studying both academic and vocational courses, the loss of the EMA is deeply felt.
Tracy, 18, will be taking part in her first ever protest next week because she believes the government is not listening to the views of young people who want the allowance brought back.
She says: "The EMA meant a lot to me because it helped me to get by. I used the EMA to get food, buy stationary and travel to college. It helped me to be independent.
"Now that it has been scrapped, I have to rely on my parents if I need anything – which they cannot afford. Without enough jobs for young people, there is no other way I can find the money to support myself."
The EMA was a lifeline. It allowed over half a million of the poorest young people in Britain to access further education, support themselves and feel a sense of independence. Its abolition has had a hugely detrimental impact, hitting young women and Black students particularly hard.
The government's own social mobility adviser, Alan Milburn, described the decision to abolish the EMA as a "very bad mistake" in the Guardian last month.
With over a million young people currently unemployed and the Tories preparing the ground for even more job cuts, the future is looking increasingly bleak for the "lost generation". A government U-turn to bring back EMA would widen opportunities for young people and benefit the economy as a whole,
boosting both jobs and growth.
The EMA's record in breaking down the barriers to post-16 education was impressive. In
a 2010 report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, it was found to have increased the proportion of young people who stayed in education from 65% to 69% among 16-year-olds and from 54% to 61% among 17-year-olds.
We are told by the Tory chancellor, George Osborne, that there is no alternative to austerity and to slashing the education budget.
Yet while the aspirations of young people are being destroyed by education cuts, Britain remains committed to spending £2bn a year maintaining the Trident nuclear weapon system. For less than a third of that amount, it would be possible to bring back EMA.
Today a coalition of student leaders launch the Bring Back EMA campaign which aims to put this issue back on the political map.
NUS officers and executive members, dozens of further education student union presidents and officers as well as student leaders from across the country are uniting to demand that the government reverse its disastrous decision to abolish EMA.
Next week's NUS march is just the beginning. We are determined to put this issue at the heart of the political debate in the run-up to the next general election.
The protests, occupations and walkouts that students led in 2010 proved we were a force to be reckoned with. We are ready to show this again.
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