An 18-year-old woman just got accepted to her “dream university” — but her parents are dashing her plans by demanding to tap into her college fund to help pay for her older brother’s wedding.
In a recent post on Reddit, the 18-year-old shared her frustration over the situation, beginning by explaining that her grandparents — who are no longer living — set up a college fund for her when she was born, and she now has enough money saved to cover most of her tuition. “My parents have always known about this fund, and I’ve been planning my education around it,” she noted.
Now that she has her college acceptance, she is ready to put the money to work. However, her 25-year-old brother recently announced that he is getting married. The siblings’ parents have agreed to pay for the wedding, and they have informed their daughter that they will need to “borrow” from her college fund to cover some of the wedding costs.
The woman was not happy when she learned this news, to say the least. “I was shocked and told them no, since that money was meant for my education,” she wrote, explaining that her parents then doubled down.
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“They argued that I could just take out student loans and that ‘family comes first,’ ” she continued, adding, “My brother and his fiancée also called me selfish, saying I should ‘help out’ since they want a big wedding. I refused again.”
The woman said that following the disagreement, her parents are “disappointed” and her brother isn’t speaking to her. She concluded her post by asking if she’s “the a——” for refusing to let her parents dip into her college fund to pay for her brother’s nuptials.
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In the comments, fellow Reddit users shared the opinion that the woman’s parents were out of line and argued that they have plenty of other options available to them.
“They can take out loans to pay for the wedding (and would most likely get a better interest rate than your student loans). They can take money out of the equity on their home if they own, open a credit card, take money from their retirement accounts, etc.,” one person wrote, insisting, “There is 0 reason it should come from your college fund.”
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Others even went so far as to suggest that the woman seek legal advice if her parents continue to demand money from her college fund.
“You need to go see a lawyer to ensure that they cannot screw you over as they will if they can. Protect yourself and your college fund,” read one comment.
Some Redditors questioned the parents’ priorities. “Your parents really hit you with the ‘family comes first’ while expecting you to tank student debt for an open bar and a fancy cake? Wild,” one commenter wrote. “Your brother is 25 if he can’t afford his dream wedding, he should scale it down, not raid your future.”
Another chimed in: “Education is far more important than a wedding. They are acting extremely entitled and juvenile. Don’t fight with words it will drain you. Fight back through the correct channels and make it be known that you have no qualms in going public that they are treating their son’s wedding as far more important than your education, so much so that they are stealing from you.”
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