Chip Chick
This 17-year-old boy is considering his college plans after high school graduation this spring. His parents paid for his three older brothers’ college educations (his brothers are 28, 27, and 25). In addition, they paid for his brothers to live off campus. His parents told him they’d also pay for his college education, so he always believed they’d stick to their word.
A few days ago, he talked to his parents about the college he hoped to attend in the fall. He shared photos of what the campus looked like with them. During the conversation, he asked them about their timeline for apartment hunting since he wanted to live off-campus like his brothers did.
“My parents were apologetic and told me they couldn’t afford to pay for an apartment or my college. They told me that they didn’t anticipate how expensive everything would be when paying for my brothers’ college,” he said.
After learning that his parents couldn’t pay for his college education, he was, and still is, understandably devastated. He questioned why they made him think they’d be able to pay for his college when, in actuality, they didn’t have the money to do so.
His parents apologized again and claimed they weren’t thinking because they were too distracted. They said they’d been so preoccupied attempting to get their finances back in order after footing the bill for his brothers’ college educations. So, they didn’t realize they hadn’t told him they couldn’t pay for his college like they’d intended to.
Later, his father expressed how grateful he was that he’d earned scholarships, which would help tremendously with the costs. But he responded that even after taking the scholarships into account, he was still on the hook for half of his college tuition. His parents assured him they saw where he was coming from and would assist him with the loan application process to pay for the other half of his tuition.
He expressed his gratitude for their offer but said he wasn’t comfortable taking out loans because he’d prefer not to have a ton of student loan debt. His parents tried to reason with him and hoped to change his mind.
They didn’t want him to sacrifice his college dreams, but he said he was okay. When they questioned his plan if he didn’t take out loans to afford college, he said he had no idea, but he’d think about it and devise a plan before graduation.
“My parents were unhappy with this and told me that I should still go to college because I’d be ruining my future if I didn’t and that I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. I told them that I only worked hard because I thought I would graduate college debt-free, not debt-full,” he explained.
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