No, My Daughter Won’t Share Her College Fund With Her Stepsister
A recent post from a dad on Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole?” forum has received over 9,300 and about 1,500 comments from readers in just two days. At issue is a college fund set up for his daughter by his ex-wife who is now deceased. His new wife, Ashley, thinks that some of the extra funds should go to his new stepdaughter, who happens to be the same age as his daughter. He has been maintaining that the money is his daughter’s and the disagreement has been causing trouble at home. To read the full post and weigh in on the argument, click here.
Reddit users have come out overwhelmingly in support of the dad’s stance and the internet seems to agree that he is NTA. According to the post, he and his ex-wife Sam remained close after the divorce and were great co-parents. Since he covered most of the expenses while their daughter was growing up, Sam took it upon herself to set aside money for the college fund. When Sam died, two years ago, he realized she had managed to save up a “hefty amount” of money. The money became an issue recently when it came time to register for college.
“It became a bigger deal this past May. My daughter told me she had decided to do community college in her mom’s hometown so she could be close to her grandparents…Ashley then brought up how some of [my daughter’s college] money could go to my stepdaughter. I told her no.
Ashley went off about Sam…and how she was selfish to make her [daughter] so much better off than her only sibling. I told her she needed to get over that because Sam only had one child to think about and it wasn’t her job to think about my stepdaughter,” he continued. “Ashley [then] told me to think about my stepdaughter. I told her my stepdaughter is not entitled to my daughter’s money or my ex-wife’s money.”
With college tuition costs increasing every year, paying for an education is becoming more stressful. For an in-state public college, tuition averaged $10,388 for the 2021-2022 school year. Out-of-state tuition was $22,698 and attending a private college was $38,185. Despite these costs, Reddit users don’t think that the dad in this scenario should reallocate his daughter’s funds to help the stepdaughter.
Here are what a few commenters had to say:
Many brought up the fact that the stepdaughter has the advantage of parents who are both alive and should be thankful for that.
Commenters also agreed that the stepdaughter’s biological parents should bear the responsibility of their child’s college preparedness.
Hopefully, this family will be able to come to some sort of resolution.
Check out our newsletter to stay updated on college updates, news, advice, and more.