His Sister’s Furious That He Can No Longer Afford To Help Pay For His Niece’s College Tuition
Eight years ago, this man made a promise at the dinner table that his family is still trying to hold him to. Back then, he said he would help pay for his niece to attend college when the time came.
It’s important to understand what his life was like when he made that promise. He was single, he had a job in tech that paid him handsomely, and he had no actual responsibilities in a financial sense.
He adores his niece, and she’s always been more like a daughter to him than anything else. He did mean that he was happy to help her pay for her college tuition, but he never expected his life would take the turn that it did.
“Fast forward to now — she just turned 18 and got into a good (but expensive) private university. The problem is, my life looks nothing like it did back then,” he explained.
“I got laid off during the pandemic, took a huge pay cut when I changed careers, and recently had my first child. Between daycare, rent, and trying to rebuild my savings, we’re barely scraping by. I simply can’t afford to cover her tuition—not without sacrificing things my own kid needs.”
“When I explained this to my sister (her mom), she was furious. She said I ‘made a promise’ and now I’m ‘abandoning’ my niece.”
He then suggested that he give his niece money for books or housing (assuming she picks a local college). He also said he could co-sign a loan with her, but none of those solutions his sister or his niece found acceptable.
His niece is essentially no longer speaking to him, while his sister is going around telling everyone that he lied in order to get attention.
Other family members have since weighed in, texting him messages intended to make him feel so guilty that he changes his mind.
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“A few are saying I shouldn’t have made the promise if I wasn’t going to follow through,” he continued.
“But I never imagined my life would take such a turn, and I didn’t expect them to act like I’m a villain for not being rich anymore.”
“I still care about my niece, and I want her to succeed. But I have to put my own family’s needs first. I feel terrible, but also a little angry that no one’s acknowledging how much my situation has changed.”
Do you think he’s wrong for no longer paying for his niece’s college tuition?
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