This forty-five-year-old man has three children– two sons who are in their twenties and a daughter who is eighteen.
But, he has also raised his seventeen-year-old niece ever since his brother tragically passed away when she was young.
And after taking his niece in, he claims that he and his wife always tried to treat her like she was their own child.
“We give her things equal to the others so that she does not feel left out,” he said.
However, even though he really cares about his niece, he has started to get concerned about his own future– more specifically, how he cannot afford to financially support her for the rest of his life.
And the worries really started when his daughter went away to college– because afterward, his niece felt super inspired and began to think about pursuing higher education herself.
In fact, his niece got so excited that she even approached him and his wife with potential universities she wanted to look into following high school graduation.
While he thought her interest in college was great, though, he told his niece that she should start applying for scholarships sooner rather than later. That way, her choice would not be clouded by financial limitations.
But, his niece apparently did not really understand his suggestion. In fact, she actually laughed and asked why she would do that if her tuition was going to be paid for.
Volodymyr – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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His niece’s assumption shocked him, and clearly, there had been a misunderstanding somewhere along the way. So, he was forced to set the record straight.
“I told her that no, I wouldn’t be paying. I only had enough money to pay for my kids, but I would still help her out with basic necessities,” he recalled.
After he clarified that, though, his niece apparently got really upset– because she just stayed totally silent and went up to her bedroom.
And later, his suspicions were confirmed after he received a furious call from his father. In fact, his father actually reamed him out for treating his niece differently from the other kids.
“My father called me in a rage and said I was being cruel to my niece, especially since my brother was always close to me when he was alive,” he explained.
Still, though, he tried to explain that his decision had nothing to do with his love or care for his niece. Instead, he simply just does not have the resources to put her through a four-year university. But then, his father delivered one last final blow when they said he should have begun saving for his niece’s college the minute he took her in.
In turn, he has been left feeling like a total jerk. He admits that his father is right and that he should have launched a college fund back in the day to prepare for this moment. Nevertheless, he obviously never did. So now, he has been left wondering if refusing to pay for his niece’s college tuition is a terrible thing to do.
Do you think that his father is right? If you were his niece, how would you feel? What would you do in this situation?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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