Girl Sues Parents For College Tuition . . . and Wins!


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Girl Sues Parents For College Tuition . . . and Wins!

 

When parents won't pay for college tuition ? and many don't for one reason or another ? their children find a way to pay, be it through scholarships, loans, or . . . a lawsuit. Last year Caitlyn Ricci sued her parents for college tuition, and this week a New Jersey judge ruled in her favor.

 

The battle began last February when a series of disagreements led to Caitlyn, who was enrolled at Gloucester County College, moving out of her mother's house. She started living with her grandmother, who encouraged Caitlyn to take legal action against her parents, Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey. Caitlyn filed a suit against her divorced parents, and that October a judge ordered them to help with tuition as long as Caitlyn applied for all possible loans and scholarships. Michael and Maura claim she never made the effort, so they refused to write a check.

 

But that didn't stop Caitlyn. In the Summer of 2014, after transferring to Temple University, she brought the case back to court. Whether it was the higher bill or a change of heart, the judge ruled that Michael and Maura must put $16,000 a year toward their estranged daughter's $26,000 education. Needless to say, this has put a strain on the family. Despite their efforts, neither Michael nor Maura has spoken directly to their daughter since she moved out last February, a fact that breaks Maura's heart.

 

http://www.popsugar.com/moms/Girl-Sues-Parents-College-Tuition-36110242

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Any link to the trial case ruling PDF? Would like to see what laws were violated and the legal reasoning on why the parents have to pay for their daughters tuition in the state of New Jersey.

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I honestly feel that if they are still living in your home, pay it. If they have moved out, for whatever reasons and have been supporting themselves, it's all on them.

 

I don't know. Just how I feel. If I had full means to help, then I doubt I'd give a crap as long as they were always a respectful person and never spoiled.

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NightmarE D, on 16 Nov 2014 - 22:29, said:

I honestly feel that if they are still living in your home, pay it. If they have moved out, for whatever reasons and have been supporting themselves, it's all on them.

 

I don't know. Just how I feel. If I had full means to help, then I doubt I'd give a crap as long as they were always a respectful person and never spoiled.

 

it's a big deal. the law states that someone shall not be deprived of life or property without due process. What was the justification for this? The only reason to deprive these people of this kind of money is if the parents cheated her some how in roughly this amount of money. This girl seems to be in need of a retroactive abortion.

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If your under 24 the state assumes they will help you and basis your income on their income even if you live a thousand miles away on your own for FAFSA so no grants and assistance for you if your parents make 50k plus a year and don't wanna help. As long as that doesn't change I support this. I'm paying my fiances tuition because of this very problem of being considered a dependant student until your 24. Also something is missing from the story. It says the parents are divorced and in most cases including my parents, the divorce has clauses that one or both parents must help pay the children's tuition until the patient is considered am independent student (defined as over 24 under the law for FAFSA).

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If your under 24 the state assumes they will help you and basis your income on their income even if you live a thousand miles away on your own for FAFSA so no grants and assistance for you if your parents make 50k plus a year and don't wanna help. As long as that doesn't change I support this. I'm paying my fiances tuition because of this very problem of being considered a dependant student until your 24. Also something is missing from the story. It says the parents are divorced and in most cases including my parents, the divorce has clauses that one or both parents must help pay the children's tuition until the patient is considered am independent student (defined as over 24 under the law for FAFSA).

But that is only if you apply for and receive Federal student aid... if you ignore it, none of those rules really apply as I understood it...

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Twenty four seems to me anyway to be a high age for a parent to finance a sibling after all they could have children of their own, in the UK this is only Eighteen I think.

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Twenty four seems to me anyway to be a high age for a parent to finance a sibling after all they could have children of their own, in the UK this is only Eighteen I think.

the new healthcare laws made it so parents can have children depend on them until 26yrs of age........

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Parents shouldn't be able to use education as leverage over their children and clearly the judge agreed. That said, education should be provided for free and funded through general taxation. I oppose the notion of for-profit education.

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Parents shouldn't be able to use education as leverage over their children and clearly the judge agreed. That said, education should be provided for free and funded through general taxation. I oppose the notion of for-profit education.

 

But, a college is extra education, you had a full education until the age of 18 in the USA paid for by taxes... to me college is a choice, and being a choice it should be "Extra" and not something that can be forced on you or by someone else once you get past the standard education

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But, a college is extra education, you had a full education until the age of 18 in the USA paid for by taxes... to me college is a choice, and being a choice it should be "Extra" and not something that can be forced on you or by someone else once you get past the standard education

Education is essential to a competitive economy and should be provided by the government. Countries like Scotland and Germany provide free university level education, so it's a perfectly feasible system. England doesn't and uses a student loan system, one which barely breaks even and in which 85% of people will never pay it back - it's simply a bad system.

 

To me it is ludicrous that individuals should be saddled up with massive debts in the hope that they'll get a job that might be able to pay it off. Education, like healthcare and the criminal justice system, shouldn't be a profit making venture.

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But, a college is extra education, you had a full education until the age of 18 in the USA paid for by taxes... to me college is a choice, and being a choice it should be "Extra" and not something that can be forced on you or by someone else once you get past the standard education

 

Maybe a generation or two ago. A B.S. is now the baseline. What used to just require a high school diploma now requires a college education.

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Maybe a generation or two ago. A B.S. is now the baseline. What used to just require a high school diploma now requires a college education.

 

Or a lot of college graduates are doing work that doesn't require a Bachelor's. Also, a lot of arts and political science degrees are finding they are of less value in the modern workforce. Many are going to for-profit schools for I/T. Downsizing middle management of questionable value.

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Any link to the trial case ruling PDF? Would like to see what laws were violated and the legal reasoning on why the parents have to pay for their daughters tuition in the state of New Jersey.

 

In PA and NJ it was was enacted before 1970.  If the divorce occurs before the kids are 18, the parents are required to pay for the kids college.  When I was in College they actual requested me to give them information on my parents divorce as a potential source of payment for school. 

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Maybe a generation or two ago. A B.S. is now the baseline. What used to just require a high school diploma now requires a college education.

my point is it's not required, it's your choice to get a degree or not, there is no national baseline for education outside of normal high school education, which doesn't mean a parent has to pay for you to go to college and can say if you want to go you pay for it... heck I paid my way through college and had it paid off the day I graduated..

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In PA and NJ it was was enacted before 1970.  If the divorce occurs before the kids are 18, the parents are required to pay for the kids college.  When I was in College they actual requested me to give them information on my parents divorce as a potential source of payment for school. 

http://articles.philly.com/1992-11-18/news/26006828_1_frances-sonne-parental-duty-matrimonial-lawyers it's an old article, but fits the topic

 

I've never met a child of divorce that had their college paid for due to the divorce... heck I've met a lot that were paying on their own... it all comes down to what the parents agreed on during the divorce

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http://articles.philly.com/1992-11-18/news/26006828_1_frances-sonne-parental-duty-matrimonial-lawyers it's an old article, but fits the topic

 

I've never met a child of divorce that had their college paid for due to the divorce... heck I've met a lot that were paying on their own... it all comes down to what the parents agreed on during the divorce

My parents had such a clause in their divorce. I would never sue them for such a thing though. How selfish do you have to be? And shame on her grandmother for putting her up to it.

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http://articles.philly.com/1992-11-18/news/26006828_1_frances-sonne-parental-duty-matrimonial-lawyers it's an old article, but fits the topic

 

I've never met a child of divorce that had their college paid for due to the divorce... heck I've met a lot that were paying on their own... it all comes down to what the parents agreed on during the divorce

 

I haven't either. But I don't have a problem with holding parents responsible for their kids through college. At least not if they go straight through from high school. Undergrad anyway, and provided they have the means. But it's a slippery slope. If you don't have the means, should you have kids, lol.

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I haven't either. But I don't have a problem with holding parents responsible for their kids through college. At least not if they go straight through from high school. Undergrad anyway, and provided they have the means. But it's a slippery slope. If you don't have the means, should you have kids, lol.

 

My parents had the means to pay for college... but they told me I have to learn to be responsible and I paid for it all myself... at some point you have to teach your kids how to be responsible and college is a good start... I've meet too many free ride / paid for college kids that just look at college as a place to good off on their parents money...

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My parents had the means to pay for college... but they told me I have to learn to be responsible and I paid for it all myself... at some point you have to teach your kids how to be responsible and college is a good start... I've meet too many free ride / paid for college kids that just look at college as a place to good off on their parents money...

 

I don't think that's reserved for students whose parents pay... I suppose it's a parents choice whether or not to use that to teach "responsibility." Some may see it as a parent's way of giving their child a leg up on a successful life and financial foundation.

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Some US states have education trusts, which are prepaid college educations you can set up in childhood where monthly payments accumulate tax free. The sooner you start them the lower the monthly payments. The Michigan Education Trust has Full, Limited and Community College plans. Ex,

http://www.michigan.gov/setwithmet

Full plan

In-state tuition and mandatory fees at any Michigan public university

Or in-district or out-of-district tuition and mandatory fees at Michigan public community colleges

Up to the number of credit hours required for a standard four-year undergraduate baccalaureate degree (usually 120 semester credit hours)

Individuals may purchase in semester increments up to 10 semesters (5 years) of tuition

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