WHAT do your readers feel about Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)? As far as most people are concerned, this is something certain people supposedly deserve or have earned.

I believe the conditions regarding EMA should be much stricter, as most of the people I spoke to see it as extra money in their bank account each week when, in fact, it should be given directly to parents to help with household bills and the upkeep of their children.

Perhaps the Government should distribute the money in voucher form, gas and electricity vouchers, for example.

This would comply with the basic principle of the allowance, as the money is supposed to give parents of further education students financial help with the paying of bills etc. Is it sending the wrong message to young people? They do not have to work to earn their money and can simply take from the Government and use the benefit system.

Many of the students receiving EMA do not have to work in their free time to receive money. The people who do not receive it often give up their weekend and one evening during the week to their part-time job, sometimes to earn less than what some people receive in the form of EMA. My college has recently been distributing information to EMA recipients about a £100 bonus they will be receiving in January for no apparent reason, other than to boost their bank balance. Is this fair?

Arianne Dickens,

Huntington Road,

York.

Updated: 10:32 Wednesday, December 07, 2005