21 Year Old Sues Parents for College Tuition - and Wins!!

a reply to: FlyersFan
There is more to the story at this link: Dad Speaks Out After 21-Year-Old Sues Him to Pay College Tuition

I predict this young lady has a hard life ahead of her, and all of her problems will always be someone elses fault.

originally posted by: Woodcarver
The parents had a kid. The responsibility lands on them. Period.

I dont know if you have kids or not. If you do, were they sometimes brats? Did you plan for their future anyways?

They raised a brat? They have a brat to deal with.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Do your parents still take care of you? If not, when did they stop? If so, when do you plan on growing up and taking care of yourself?

My parents died when i was in my teens. Not relevant to this story.

But what a precedent this case could become. Dont have kids if your not willing to take responsibility. All of my children are well taken care of because i worked extra hard on my education, and saved enough money to do that and more.

I believe that my doing this has given my kids a pretty good example to follow. They were brats sometimes. That is something that comes up. I dealt with it. They are doing quite well now.


a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

originally posted by: Woodcarver
Don't have kids if your not willing to take responsibility...

Responsibility...an interesting choice of wording when discussing an adult suing other adults in a vain attempt for freebies.

Where is her responsibility?

As for you claim that the parents should be responsible...that shows you have read nothing about the case! The offered what they could afford. Which is what responsible adults do. The adult daughter is making irresponsible choices by forcing her parents to pay for something they can not afford, which will now jeopardize her parents ability to provide for the other children.

Responsibility...lol..apparently only when it suits your cause.

They had children. They had 18 years to save. Kids dont become brats on their own. They are following an example.

Imagine a world where every parent has a responsibility to be a good parent.

How much better would the world be?

I think you are all being very short sighted.

Possibly being led along by the details of this single case. Think larger. Include every kid.

a reply to: peck420

flyersfan...

see what i mean^^^^^^^^

a reply to: Woodcarver


Your parents dying when you were a teen is very relevant to the story. Sorry for your loss by the way.

But you got a crap ton of life insurance money and social security to pay for your education. If you did not get life insurance, your parents didn't take the responsibility to raise their kids. You can't have it both ways.

Either way a parent only has the responsibility to raise their children in a healthy environment. Anything above that is great but not required.

This ruling can set precedence. It can be used to force other parents to pay for their children's college, even though they are older than 18 and technically on their own.

This is a way to drain the money out of people, forcing people to think they have to pay for college for a kid that does not have to follow rules of their family.

I bought my daughter cars, which she was good at wrecking, when she went to college. She was under the impression that I was going to keep buying her a car and maintaining it as long as she went to school. Six years of college and not even a two year degree in her pocket and she finally quit. She wasted so much money on College. She has a decent job now, one that she qualifies for because she is good at fast typing and because she had a computer to use since she was about twelve. The College is not required for the job. Now she is trying to finish college online while working. Why, it will not get her a better job in the field she chose. If she goes work in that field she will take probably a twenty grand cut in pay per year and be stuck at a desk in the same office for many years. That does not make sense to me.

They are trying to get kids to go to college in other states, that is a setup. That way tuition is higher for the kids, who get loans, and states don't have to pay their fair share of the costs. They are trying to convince the young that the grass is greener on the other side and that keeping up with the Jone's is the way it has to be. College is becoming a scam, when a four year degree turns into six years because of a lot of classes that don't count towards graduating, everyone should be able to see that this is a scam. Why, Maybe because they want kids to keep in school so unemployment rates don't look so bad. Maybe the brainwashing has a reason.

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71

But you got a crap ton of life insurance money and social security to pay for your education. If you did not get life insurance, your parents didn't take the responsibility to raise their kids. You can't have it both ways.

and



nice one

and my big issue was something like ricky dealt with.

i have to dish out 16 k a year...ok, then what happens 2 years into it she decides she dont want to go or flunks out.
im just out all that scratch?
oh thats right...my fault.
i didnt plan for that contingency....i forgot, i am financially responsible till my kid is 103

a reply to: Grovit


This girl will be financially responsible for her parents nursing home and funeral expenses to right?

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

if all goes right then yes.
seeing is she is hosing them for at least 32 grand as per the law, hopefully they can stiff her will kinds of funeral costs and estate taxes,back taxes, debt, and anything else they can after they kick.
she how she likes that #.
she is all about 'the law' now but i bet she will change her tune then.

I don't think parents should be responsible for a child's college tuition. Period. But the OP only tells the parents' side of the story as if it's fact, when the girl's side is much different.

I'm not supporting the young girl, but we don't know everything about the case. Specifically, what the divorce agreement said. If it stipulated that the parents pay for her education, then, legally, it's binding and she has a case. This case won't set a precedent. It's already been set:

These facts are in dispute, and the judge is encouraging the family to come to some sort of resolution, according to The Inquirer.
...
New Jersey case precedent established that financially capable divorced parents should contribute to the tuition of qualified students. “It varies state by state, but generally, when people get divorced and they have kids that aren’t in college, they determine what their obligations are for college expenses,” Nicole Onorato, a family law attorney at Katz & Stefani in Chicago, tells Yahoo Parenting. “If the court orders at the time of the divorce – or at the time the kid is ready for college – that parents have to contribute, a kid can ask the court to enforce that.”

OP's Source

My logic is very simple: if they're claiming her as a dependent, then they're using her to get tax write-offs and can use any loans that she takes out to get massive tax credits.

With that being the case, then they have legally declared that they are supporting her, and absolutely should be legally required to do so.

originally posted by: Woodcarver
They had children. They had 18 years to save. Kids dont become brats on their own. They are following an example.

Imagine a world where every parent has a responsibility to be a good parent.

How much better would the world be?

I think you are all being very short sighted.

Possibly being led along by the details of this single case. Think larger. Include every kid.

a reply to: peck420

They did save. They offered what they saved and the daughter rejected.

You seem to have a severe failure as to what a parent's job is.

A parent's job is not to cater to every whim their children have. A parent's job is to prepare them for life. Making do with what you have is life. Not part of it. That is all of it.

If any of mine tried this, I would lock every single penny into trust funds (for my other children) that they couldn't access without 100% GPA's. And laugh as the courts try to explain how stealing from my other children for one is acceptable...to the media.

originally posted by: AnIntellectualRedneck
My logic is very simple: if they're claiming her as a dependent, then they're using her to get tax write-offs and can use any loans that she takes out to get massive tax credits.

With that being the case, then they have legally declared that they are supporting her, and absolutely should be legally required to do so.

Higher education is not a right. They should not be required to pay for her college under any circumstances.

a reply to: Woodcarver

I agree with you.

www.fastweb.com... ent-loans

If you do not file the FAFSA, your child will not be eligible for most forms of student financial aid, such as government and college grants and student employment programs like federal work-study. The college cannot grant a student a dependency override just because the parents refuse to complete the FAFSA and/or because the parents refuse to provide support, even if the student lives on his/her own and is self-supporting. The college’s financial aid administrator does have the authority to offer a dependent student unsubsidized Stafford loans if the parents have refused to complete the FAFSA and have ended financial support for the student. But this student will not be eligible for other forms of financial aid.

These parents need to suck it up and do their duty and send their daughter off with the tools that they promised her to enter adulthood. If they raised her right for the first 18 + years, they may find that they can still find it their heart to have pride in the daughter.

After reading the article my impression is the reason the judge granted her request is because in her parents original divorce agreement they provided for planning for her college education. Her parents are both teacher's so I'm going to assume this girl was raised believing higher education was an expectation of her parents. I'm going to take an unpopular position in this discussion and try and present what this KIDS side of the story might be...

Her parents divorced, both re-married and started new families, regardless of how or why.......HER central family ceased to exist....painful stuff......and I have NO doubt this kid was a big pain in the ass !! Step Parents, younger siblings became her parents priority and I'm sure it was difficult......and it's very sad.

She lives with her Grandparents who seem to support or maybe even encouraged her to take this issue to court, maybe they have some insight that we don't? I find the parents willingness to 'Trash" their daughter to be really disturbing, especially her Mother. I wish we had more details about what exactly her Mother's requirements were for chores, curfew, etc., it seems she wanted the girl to live under her roof, with her rules or her college money was revoked. Geez for those of us here that were lucky enough to go to college, wasn't half of the whole experience spreading our wings, burning the candle at both ends, learning to be an adult in a relatively "safe" environment ?

Maybe it wasn't a legal obligation, but I sure think it's a Moral obligation once you have promised your child this opportunity, and in this case the parents agreed to provide for her college education when THEY choose to end their marriage and her family. Heck, this kid isn't asking for a Harvard education, and she WANTS to go to college...good for her.....Very Sad....

a reply to: Klassified


I hope that others read your link...
and have it revealed to them that the loophole in NJ law
allows divorced couples to be sued for college tuition...a continuously married couple would not be in this sticky situation



~sheeze~


2 parts of the Hegelian dialect at work here === Problem - Reaction
if investigated more... the solution would be to change the law, the daughter is just exercising the absurd law on the books

a reply to: windword

Holy hell is that a pathetic stance you have there.... I'm in the same generation of this girl, just a little bit older. I PAID my own way through college taking out loans and working full-time. I didn't need my parents for college and nor does she, there are avenues she can take to make her college dream a possibility. There isn't just one way, with that way being parents paying for the education.

Ways I paid for my college education

1. College loans (Big shocker here and they aren't hard to get)
2. Worked a job (another big shocker)
3. Received academic scholarships for my high GPA and being a part of multiple honors societies (she likely can't take this avenue)


Ways to not pay for your college
1. Stripping
2. Prostitution
3. Suing your god damn parents when you're a freaking adult

originally posted by: jhn7537
Ways to not pay for your college
1. Stripping
2. Prostitution
3. Suing your god damn parents when you're a freaking adult

Stripping and prostitution have paid for many college educations. FAR more responsible than suing your parents, IMO.