Posted on 07/13/2022 3:52:13 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Afather has garnered support online after admitting to holding his son's college fund "hostage" upon discovering the son no longer wanted to attend.
The 48-year-old man, under the handle of u/Night_Owl63, took to Reddit's "Am I the A**hole" forum where users head to gain insight into their own personal dilemmas. He shared that he started the college fund with his wife as soon as they found out she was pregnant and added that they have so far raised around $400,000.....
However, the son has decided since graduating high school this year that he does not want to attend college. The parents supported the decision, but the son continued to also reject trade schools or offers to work in the family business.
"He said that he planned to use his college fund to start a business of his own. I said that I will allow it only if he takes some business management, accounting and law classes in the nearby community college," wrote the father. "I said that I would pay them out of pocket and not from the fund, and then I would expect a well made business plan before I would give him the money. My wife agrees 100 percent."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I think it’s a good idea that the parents aren’t giving the kid the money now, seems likely it would just be wasted. Who knows, maybe in a few years that kid may well change his mind and decide to take some schooling. Happened to me (without the free $$, of course!).
Waste of plates. What were the family afraid of? Did they raise their kids right or were they all lazy layabouts?
Inquiring minds want to know why such a rigid policy was needed.
The fact the son called his dad a SOB should put a stop to him getting one penny of the fund. Use the money for retirement, parents. Your kid deserves nothing.
Sonny boy could be seeking a lawsuit with his new attorney and presenting the case before a leftist judge.
Yep.
I worked with a man whose son got a settlement for a terrible car accident he was in when a drunk driver plowed into him. ($5-600,000-ish?) He and his wife put it in some kind of trust so that by the time their son was in his 30s or 40s, he could retire and live off of the money- monthly stipend per month, enough for a house and could cover any education. Kid turned 18 several years later, went to court to get his money and it was gone in less than 2 years. He and his beer buddies lived high off the hog and now the kid is struggling to work with his injuries.
Kids are dumb. (except for everyone’s here - they are precious angels.)
What business was the boy thinking of starting?
Something stupid like being an ‘influencer’ or blogger? Not that that is exactly stupid but only a few succeed to where they make good bank.
As a young enthusiastic new member of a small family business, I decided that it would be worthwhile to enhance my engineering degree with some formal business courses.
I was allowed to take 400 level courses at will. What I learned was that the courses were all about the large or very large corporate culture and mostly inapplicable to our small company.
We could never afford to build a huge college fund for our kids. We told them we would loan them the money if we could.
Three of the four attended college, two were two year degrees, one was a four year engineering college. All have paid us back.
The one with the four year degree paid off all his loans within a year. That’s the benefit of earning a degree that actually includes well paid job prospects.
Give the kid time, he'll figure out what direction he wants to go in. Once he does, then release the monies to help him in his endeavors.
After I graduated from HS, I enrolled in a local community college just because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had a part time job that fall and winter so I paid my own tuition. After missing most of my classes playing cards in the cafeteria, my parents decided I should enlist in the Army and drove me over to the local enlistment center. So in April '69, it was off to basic training.....
If it’s in a 529 plan, that money can be kept for another relative - younger child, niece, nephew or future grandchildren. If you want to use it for non-educational purposes, there is a 10% penalty on the withdrawal and income tax on the growth, not the principal.
Not pertinent in this case, but if a kid gets a scholarship, money equal to the amount of the scholarship can be taken out of the 529 with no penalty in the calendar, not academic, year it was earned.
What if they want to go to a trade school? Knowing a trade is like a license to print money all over the country.
I don't mean to insult you with this, but that line is so far from the truth that it may as well be in a parallel universe. Some "parents" are so stupid that it's a miracle their kids make it to adulthood. Whether they're able to function independently is an entirely different story.
Those that don't have at least one pitbull, who they leave as a babysitter for their kids when they go on a beer run at 8 AM.
I agree with the father but I do not agree with him airing the family’s dirt on social media.
Many fewer college classes required if the kid chooses the business route.
I grew up in different times with quality parents I guess. A parent who has put together a 400K fund for education is not representative of a train wreck parent. That is what my comment was addressed toward. Works in my universe!
So, get him in a trade or tech school and help him start a business. College screws up more kids than it helps!
Cross that bridge when I get to it. Have three more years before that presents itself.
No objections to trade school...likely a better education than college. But the money belongs to my wife and I, not our children. How it is spent is our decision.
We’re seeing lots of that these days.
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