Daughter takes being a spoiled brat to unprecedented heights

As opposed to things staying the same (parents maintain her lifetsyle) and nothing changes?
Look, not sure I condone what they are doing (THANK GOD I have boys!!!!!!) but insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results... Or as Dr. Phil asks .. "How's that working out for you?"


The parents may be on the hook for high school tuition, but college? I wanna meet that judge!

 

She turned 18 last fall, according to the Daily Record article linked in the blog post that was linked here. The parents clearly should be on the hook for fall tuition, but I don't see any reason why they should be for the spring. And if there is a contract that obligates them, then it should be the school seeking to enforce it, not the daughter.

 

As I've said twice now, as the case goes on I imagine that part of it will be rather easy to solve based on documentation. I'm sure the school is seeking to enforce it, but through the collections process schools would normally use and not through a lawsuit and drop-kicking the girl out of school.

 

From the much longer and much more detailed article in the Daily Record, which paints a very clear picture that the parents are horrible horrible people:

Morris Catholic President Michael St. Pierre said in a certification to the court that the school did call DCP&P based upon some allegations by Rachel and “some difficult meetings between Rachel and Mr. Canning.”

The court record also includes a letter from Morris Catholic English instructor and campus minister Kathleen Smith, who wrote that she was a witness to a rough encounter between Rachel and her mother in mid-October 2013 and heard Elizabeth Canning call her daughter a foul name and say she didn’t want to speak to her daughter again.

“Rachel has excellent grades and will not be removed from the school for this nonpayment; however, her parents do have a contractual obligation to pay. Rachel is certainly unable at this time to attend Morris Catholic High School full-time and support herself financially,” St. Pierre said in his certification.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20140302/NJNEWS/303020017/Morris-Catholic-HS-senior-suing-parents-who-won-t-pay-college?nclick_check=1

Also it appears the issue is whether the girl should be able to access a college fund that is dedicated specifically to her.

The OP headline and blog item make it sound like the girl is just a little ingrate bitch, but the longer story is far more an indictment of the parents -- not least because of the people who are rallying around her, including the parents of her best (female) friend, who are housing her and paying the legal bills.

 

I didn't see anything in that story that made her any more sympathetic. She moved out because she didn't want to follow their rules.

Only thing I can see as negative toward the parents is that they should pay the fall semester. She's on her own as far as the spring semester. Her friend's lawyer-dad meddling into the situation certainly doesn't change my mind.

 

Yeah, you're right, the school testimonials about the parents' behavior are meaningless. That nasty word her mom called her then-17-year-old daughter along with the declaration that she never wanted to speak to her again? Par for the course. What special parents to mark in advance their daughter's 18th birthday by telling her she's going to be cut off in the middle of her senior year of high school. They definitely sound like they want what's best for her.

In addition to your ridiculous opinion, you're completely factually wrong about who's on the hook for the spring semester. It is the parents based on the contract they signed.

 

So you've read the contract, then?

 

Check the school president's quote on the matter.

 

It's my understanding that private school tuition's usually a whole enchilada kind of thing ... you may not write a check for it in entirety up front, but you're on the hook for it just the same. Given that, isn't it the case that a lot of private schools require students to purchase tuition refund insurance? That way, if something like this goes down, neither the parents nor the school have to take the full financial brunt of it.

A few years ago, when we were attending a different church that had a private school appended to it, I was approached about being on that school's board of trustees. I played it low-key and managed to avoid being asked directly, which turned out to be a good thing: That school went bankrupt about three months later.

 

So that's a no. Got it.

 

I'm not sure what your ax is here. Based on the school's statements and on the practices of private schools everywhere (as dq mentioned), there is not much question that the tuition is the parents' responsibility. There is zero question in fact if it will ever be the girl's responsibility, because the school already said she would not be stuck with the bill and she will not be kicked out of school.

Based on whatever is in your head that wants to beat up on the girl and give her parents a free pass for their behavior and for shutting out their 18-year-old daughter, the tuition is the girl's responsibility.

The adults closest to the situation appear to find much greater fault with the parents than with the girl. That should be a hint here.