18 yr old is suing parents for college education

[S. C.]

http://on.11alive.com/1hCqPmY


An honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their home when she turned 18 has sued them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education. Read more:

 

[usnuzuloose]

Wow! I guess this young lady thinks she is entitled to everything. If she moved out on her own, why would the parents have to pay for anything. She is of age.

 

[htmom]

Wow. She does sound entitled. I knew a few friends of mine that moved out when they turned 18. They all pretty much regretted it within a year. Sounds like she tried to pull the old "I'm 18 and can do what I want" card.

 

[JanaDee]

I hope the entitled snot gets laughed out of court.

 

[Hannathy]

The government has decried that your parents are expected help pay for your college. Your financial aid is based on your parents income. It is almost impossible to be declared an independent student anymore . so if the student can't get aid based on her parents then the parents should pay.

It is very difficult for these students. My DD has a friend whose parents are doing this. They make too much for financial aid but won't give their son anything so he can't get any aid except for the 7,500 fed loan all students can get. He also can't declare himself independent. It is a mess.


I did not read the article so I'm just responding to the title of the post.

 

[Tozzie]

http://on.11alive.com/1hCqPmY


An honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their home when she turned 18 has sued them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education. Read more:

This girl sounds like a real charmer, I have alot of trouble with her story, mainly because if the parents didn't want to spend money on her they wouldn't have sent her to Catholic School, i truly believe she doesn't like the parents rules and therfore is being a brat (can't use the word I really want to call her)

 

[barkley]

if the courts were to rule the parents had to 'provide' for her until she graduates high school I suspect their legal team could argue back that such support would only have to meet the minimum basic adequate standard of care (mbsac) that is set forth by courts for the jurisdiction. it doesn't mean the parents would be on the hook for any extras (if the kid wants to attend private school that requires transportation that's her choice-public school w/transportation is free).

as for the tuition bill-if the contract exists between the school and the parents then the school can pursue if they wish. if the school extended credit to the kid after she turned 18-she's an adult and should be held to her contract. same for the legal expenses her friend's parents have fronted her. I'm guessing the kid is pushing this b/c like most private schools-bill not paid in full equals no diploma or transcript.

college monies???? depends on how they are set up/structured (if they are set up for her/available to her OR the parent's monies set aside in their name with the intention of funding her education).


I have to wonder about the family that took this kid in-it's one thing to open your home, it's another thing entirely to encourage her to pursue a lawsuit like this (and front her over 12K). this story has been covered on other sites, and universally the daughter is getting slammed-I have to wonder if some of the colleges and universities that have sent her acceptance letters may reconsider (not exactly the kind of shining example of a student you would want representing your school).

 

[JanaDee]

This girl sounds like a real charmer, I have alot of trouble with her story, mainly because if the parents didn't want to spend money on her they wouldn't have sent her to Catholic School, i truly believe she doesn't like the parents rules and therfore is being a brat (can't use the word I really want to call her)

It sounds like she is a pro at manipulating facts to make herself look like the victim. Seems her friends parents aren't all that smart.

 

[htmom]

The government has decried that your parents are expected help pay for your college. Your financial aid is based on your parents income. It is almost impossible to be declared an independent student anymore . so if the student can't get aid based on her parents then the parents should pay.

It is very difficult for these students. My DD has a friend whose parents are doing this. They make too much for financial aid but won't give their son anything so he can't get any aid except for the 7,500 fed loan all students can get. He also can't declare himself independent. It is a mess.

I did not read the article so I'm just responding to the title of the post.

I know it is hard for these kids. I had two jobs in highschool and two part time plus I worked in the cafeteria in college so I could get through...
But if you get a chance read the article, the girl was getting in trouble and left her house. It sounds like she moved in her friends house who has a lawyer father who took her case.

 

[barkley]

The government has decried that your parents are expected help pay for your college. Your financial aid is based on your parents income. It is almost impossible to be declared an independent student anymore . so if the student can't get aid based on her parents then the parents should pay.

It is very difficult for these students. My DD has a friend whose parents are doing this. They make too much for financial aid but won't give their son anything so he can't get any aid except for the 7,500 fed loan all students can get. He also can't declare himself independent. It is a mess.


I did not read the article so I'm just responding to the title of the post.

there are MANY parents who despite what the fafsa determines through it's formula can in no way, shape or form pay for their kid's college education in any manner. the efc assigned to a family may result in a zero eligibility to any grants or other 'free monies', but that doesn't mean that family has a spare monies to give. I don't believe they should be mandated to go into debt to provide this to their child (and potentially put themselves/younger minor children in financial jeopardy for basic needs).

it's hard, but people go to college without parental help. some work while attending, others (like some dd graduated w/last year) are putting it off a few years while they work and save to attend. it might not be 'the dream', but the end result is still college attendance.

 

[Imzadi]

This is a semi-local story. Here are a couple other local news articles on this:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/n-honor-student-sues-parents-cut-age-18-suit-article-1.1709440

From the article above (which is long) I highlighted this bolded point below:

The teen will demand her parents pay a Morris Catholic tuition bill of $5,306 as well as $12,597 in accrued legal fees.

And the accomplished student, who has been accepted to several colleges, wants her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, to pay her secondary schooling costs.

The unique suit could stand a chance because of a New Jersey court decision that found young adults can be dependent on their parents beyond their 18th birthday, long considered the age a personally is legally an independent adult.

“A child’s admittance and attendance at college will overcome the rebuttable presumption that a child may be emancipated at age 18.”

Rather, it comes down to “a face-sensitive analysis that looks at whether the child has moved beyond the sphere of influence and responsibility exercised by a parent and has obtained an independent status of his or her own,”

Then there is this news article (also long): (bolding mine)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/03/03/n-j-teen-sues-parents-claims-she-was-booted-from-house-denied-college-money/

(snipped section):

Rachel did not want to be interviewed Tuesday. She is staying with the family of her best friend – which includes attorney and Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino.

Inglesino is funding the lawsuit, telling CBS 2 News it is the only way the bright and focused teen will be able to go to a college appropriate for her to become a biomedical engineer.

Rachel, who has a $20,000 scholarship, said the University of Vermont – a private college – is her first choice.

But Sean Canning said he is not refusing to pay for her college education.

“I reject the whole question on that — the whole premise,” he said. “We have a college fund that’s available to her – there’s no doubt about that. But it’s the equivalent, like I said before, it’s the equivalent of going shopping at a high-end store and sending somebody the bill.”

Rachel said she did not run away, but was given the option of dumping her boyfriend or getting out.

“Me and my wife are distraught,” Sean Canning said.

Both sides will be in court on Tuesday. Rachel Canning wants the court not to emancipate her, because under the law, a parent has an obligation support any child who cannot stand on his or her own financially.

Rachel also said every piece of financial paperwork she fills out asks her that question, and shows she clearly doesn’t have the means to support herself.

Inglesino said he has spent more than $12,000 on the lawsuit because he wants Rachel to have a great future.

Sean Canning said Inglesino is just butting in where he shouldn’t, and is influencing Rachel inappropriately.

I think she is an entitled, spoiled brat who is staying with an attorney who saw mega-dollar signs and is representing her to make money. Wouldn't the daughter still owe him the legal fees after she is laughed out of court?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Sorry, In our house, once you graduate high school and are 18, you're an adult. Our deal with our kids was , stay in school, full-time, get good grades and behave yourself, you can continue to live in our house, rent free, food provided. We'll even help with college fees. Until you graduate. Then you are on your own.

If you mess up, move out, or otherwise break the contract, you're on your own. You can continue to live in our house, as long as you get a job, and pay rent.

Not sure where she gets "under the law, a parent has an obligation support any child who cannot stand on his or her own financially", but I don't think so. Once you're an adult, you're an adult.

 

[Hannathy]

there are MANY parents who despite what the fafsa determines through it's formula can in no way, shape or form pay for their kid's college education in any manner. the efc assigned to a family may result in a zero eligibility to any grants or other 'free monies', but that doesn't mean that family has a spare monies to give. I don't believe they should be mandated to go into debt to provide this to their child (and potentially put themselves/younger minor children in financial jeopardy for basic needs).

it's hard, but people go to college without parental help. some work while attending, others (like some dd graduated w/last year) are putting it off a few years while they work and save to attend. it might not be 'the dream', but the end result is still college attendance.

Then the federal government should not require these students to go on their parents income then. Allow them to cut their ties with the parents and cut the parents ability to declare them as dependents if they aren't supporting them. the parents can't get it both way as they do now.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

Interestingly in NY the age of emancipation is 21. You can emancipate yourself at 18, of course, but your parents are presumed to be responsible for your support until 21.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mtchurchmonica]

This action on the part of the daughter does not surprise me at all. I don't even consider it news-worthy. Don't we see it all the time? Some parents get the short end of the stick, and in spite of their best efforts, their child turns out rotten, but there are plenty of parents who raise their kids with a unhealthy sense of entitlement and a narcissistic outlook on life and it comes back to bite them in the butt. I sometimes tutor kids like this girl. As part of an writing exercise, I asked a girl to think of someone she knows at school who is spoiled rotten. She immediately shot back, "That would be me!". Such self-awareness

 

[lsyorke]

They better kick this out of court or we have a VERY scary precedent.

 

[RitaE]

I wish I had a time machine so I could go forward 27 years from now and interview Future Rachel who then has an 18 year daughter claiming Rachel has to let her do whatever and wherever she wants with her boyfriend AND pay for any college the daughter want to attend.

 

[Nolcrest]

Maybe the friend's lawyer dad should have just given her the 12,000 he spent on the lawsuit. That would definately help her in the future. I'd love to be on that jury.
Ridiculous!

 

[barkley]

Then the federal government should not require these students to go on their parents income then. Allow them to cut their ties with the parents and cut the parents ability to declare them as dependents if they aren't supporting them. the parents can't get it both way as they do now.

i agree that it sucks for some students caught in this situation, but just because a parent doesn't pay for their adult child to go to college doesn't mean that child is no longer their dependent for tax purposes. if the parent is still financially for all or part of their adult child's non educational needs (health/dental insurance costs are a biggie these days) AND the adult child has no earnings or earnings under a certain level-the irs says it's legit to keep them as a dependent. there are plenty who provide housing/food/insurance (health/dental/auto) and the other necessities of life for adult students such that they are legal dependents, but by individual choice or circumstance are unable to fund college educations.

financial aide rules and irs dependent rules are entirely different.

 

[Tozzie]

Can somebody answer a question for me because I can't come up with an answer. Since when does "support" mean that you get everything you want? That the parents have to pay for her tuition at the school of her choice suppose she chooses Harvard or Columbia, the parents are supposed to sell their home to give her what she wants? I don't think she is going to win, only reason is the parents don't seem to have a problem paying just not paying what she wants. S