Almost always, parents know best. In fact, there are many moments in my life where I make a mistake and think “my mother would definitely say ‘I told you so’ right about now”.
This woman on Reddit is one of those parents who knows what’s best for her daughter.
Taking to Reddit, the woman posted on the AITA (Am I The A**hole) thread about her 17-year-old daughter’s spoilt attitude regarding her college fund, and what she decides to do to her daughter will make you smile!
The woman begins by explaining that her 17-year-old daughter is in her final year of high school. She adds that, since her daughter was a baby, both she and her husband have been gradually putting money aside for a college fund. At the time of writing, they’d managed to save a whopping $200,000.
Many parents across the US get into the habit of putting a little money aside each paycheck for a college fund, given that higher education is extremely costly.
In fact, the Education Data Initiative suggests that the cost to attend a public college and study a four-year course (while also living on campus) is around $26,027 per year or $104,108 over 4 years.
Students who are out-of-state pay slightly more at $27,091 per year or $108,364 over 4 years, while students at private nonprofit universities pay $55,840 per year or $223,360 over 4 years.
Taking this into consideration, this woman’s decision and dedication to saving money for her daughter’s future education is admirable, especially considering that the amount would cover most if not all of her expenses.
However, the woman became embroiled in a difficult situation when her daughter told her that the didn’t want to do the “traditional” route of heading straight into a four-year degree directly after high school.
According to the woman, her daughter said she “wants to take some time off from education and get a job, and figure out if, or when at all, she wants to go to school.”
Initially, the woman accepted this decision, but eventually discovered that the daughter wanted to have access to the money her parents had saved for her college fund.
“She asked if we could give her the money because she wants to buy a new car amongst other things. I told her no, because if she does choose to eventually go to school, I still want there to be money left in the account, so I’m going to hold on to it for a bit longer,” the woman wrote.
“She says that she is entitled to the money because it was meant for her, and she should still be able to have it even if she doesn’t want to go to college,” she added, before asking Redditors to let her know if she was in the wrong in this situation.
Most people leapt to her defence, with one person commenting: “NTA [Not The A**hole]. My niece took a gap year because she didn’t want to go the traditional route. But in her senior year, she applied to colleges, was accepted, and had start date in the following year.”
They continued: “Parents gave her no help for the gap year and let her experience life as a high school graduate. When the date for orientation came the following year, she was very happy to go to college. It was so easy because everything had been set up in her senior year and she just had to show up.”
Another person simply chimed in with: “If it’s for college, it’s for college. If she chooses not to go, then you can decide what to do with it as it’s your money. It’s not her money.”
What do you think about this? Would you give your child the money, or keep it safe for them in the future? Let us know in the comments!
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