When I say she pulls her idea out of her butthole, it’s meant to be a cleaner version of the phrase “pulls her ideas out of her a-word”. Since the site filters bad words, I went with the former.
bjkmom: You say you want to give your kids the freedom to get home if and when they want. If your kids never wanted to get home, would you drive out to see them then, or would you respect their space and let them be? I know if I was within driving distance of home, I definitely would not go home if I didn’t have to. If I wouldn’t go home–still in the within-driving-distance scenario–my parents would just drive out to see me, with or without my permission. In response to your question about what their wrath is, I mean financial independence, but also being cut-off from the whole family, and having my inaccessible inheritance & trust fund taken away. My mom has threatened me with my trust fund, saying if I do something wrong I will never be able to access it ever or she’ll tell me my grandparents (whom created the trust fund for me & add money to it every year) wouldn’t be happy to hear about my educational/life choices.
happymomof1: The reason I’m at a community college right now is because I “dropped out” of highschool and got my GED. I dropped out of high school because I didn’t feel like I was learning much and I was having social problems. Though right after I dropped out I started going to college, so there wasn’t any lost time really. I know for a fact my mom is in charge of the household finances, but there aren’t many financial commitments; our house is paid off, all of our new cars are paid off as soon as we buy them, my sister is paying for her own schooling, etc. I like your idea of setting up conditions for them giving money, so I will be sure to bring that up to them.
happy1: I have proven that there are schools farther away that fit my needs more than the ones in our part of the country, but nooooo, my parents don’t catch on to those qualities. I haven’t taken an in depth look at their expenses, but judging by the way they blow money on material goods like new cars or weekly fancy dinners or vacations, and still have money to comfortably buy groceries or fuel, I highly doubt the expenses for insurance, mortgage, etc. are problematic.
intparent: The choice of WUE schools feels very limited to me still. I do not like the location out here in the west, and it is very very hard to see myself happy at any of the schools that seem somewhat decent here.
mom2collegekids: Maybe they do have other plans for their money. Like I said above, though, they spend money on big material items yet we still live in our house, have electricity/heat, can afford groceries, etc. If you can buy a new car every year and live comfortably, I’d assume there is enough money going around to pay for undergrad and grad school.