A 21-year-old woman has six siblings. Five of them are brothers, and they’re 15, 18, 20, 23, 24, and then she has a younger sister who is 16.
Being one of seven kids, her mom and dad explained to her and the rest of her siblings that they didn’t have enough money to send them all to college.
Essentially, her mom and dad said they really could only afford 4 of them to go to college. Her 24-year-old brother and 23-year-old brother weren’t interested in going to college and both got a job as soon as they graduated from high school.
Her 16-year-old younger sister wants to get a GED, and also not go to college, so that means there was enough money for her and her remaining three brothers to all go to college.
“…So this wasn’t a problem until recently when my youngest sibling told us he wanted to become a doctor,” she said.
“Obviously, my parents don’t have enough left in his college fund for that. I and two of my brothers (20 & 18) are already in college.”
“They borrowed some money and even got my older brothers to chip in a bit, but they still don’t even have close to enough, so they told me they couldn’t pay for my remaining time in college and asked me to drop out.”
“They said that with that money they would be able to save up enough in the next 3 years.”
She only has two years remaining before she can graduate from college, and she doesn’t want to stop before obtaining her degree, so she refused.
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While she does have a job, part-time, she uses all of her money to help cover the costs of her tuition, so she doesn’t have any money saved to help her through life should she drop out like her parents want her to.
“My parents got really upset and asked why I couldn’t just make one small sacrifice for my brother’s future,” she continued.
“They said there would be no difference since an arts degree is as good as no degree, and my brother is a straight-A student so he’ll definitely do well as a doctor.”
She feels very badly telling her parents she won’t drop out, and she is well aware of the fact that her mom and dad will just turn around and try to force one of her other brothers in college to quit.
She’s left wondering if she’s in the wrong for not wanting to stop going to college though.
Here’s what the internet had to say.
“Your straight-A brother can get scholarships to help pay for undergrad. Last time I checked med school was close to $200k. Your parents not helping with your undergrad so they can “save” won’t be enough.”
“And seriously, your parents said they’d pay for 4 of 7? Pay some for all or none for all. The rest is bull and sounds like fiction.”
“I’m also one of seven kids, and this makes me so sad…My siblings and I were all told early on that if we kept our grades up & went to a public in-state school (my state offers free tuition to public in-state schools for students with a 3.5 GPA or higher), then they’d pay all of our other expenses (about $3k or $3.5k per year).”
“Otherwise, they’d chip in the same amount as they paid for other kids, but we’d be on our own for the rest. It was equal, and we all made our own choices based on that deal (3 went private or out of state, 4 went in-state and public).”
“No one was “betting” on any of us to succeed, especially not at the others’ expense.”
“Try, 350k+ for medical school. You’re one of the lucky ones if you only come out with 200k in debt.”
“Oh my, why have 7 (!) children if not capable of supporting them evenly!?”
“This isn’t a small sacrifice you’d be making – it’s a huge sacrifice and completely unfair of them to ask. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your future for your brother’s.”
“Student loans, financial aid, and scholarships all exist for a reason. Rather than deciding to take money that has already been designated for your college.”
“This also reeks of subtle sexism. Did they ask your two brothers who are in college to drop out, or only you?”
“Because this lowkey sounds like they think you have the least chance at a future even with a college degree, so they’re asking you to drop out instead of them. Unless they did ask your brothers and it just wasn’t mentioned.”
You can read the rest of what the internet had to say here.