- The fuming father took to Reddit’s ‘Am I The A**hole’ forum to share the story
- He said his daughter took money out of her college fund for a vacation
- Now he says he’s not going to give her the money for college – sparking a debate
After spending almost 18 years putting money aside for his daughter to attend college, a father was furious to learn she had taken some of the money out of the account – to attend a TV convention.
Taking to Reddit‘s ‘Am I The A**hole’ thread, the irate dad, who appears to be in the U.S., explained he and his wife have been putting money into a college fund since his daughter was an infant.
‘It’s a good sizeable chunk of money and a lot of donations from family have gone into it as well as her own savings occasionally,’ he explained in the post.
‘We have always made it clear that the money in there is for college only,’ he continued. ‘She never had to put her savings in there (has a separate savings account) but did so anyway.’
The parent explained his daughter’s girlfriend lives in Australia, and they are both huge fans of the TV show Supernatural.
‘They have both wanted to go to a convention for years – at least five that I can remember,’ he explained.
He explained that two of the actors are going to be at a convention in Australia, and she begged him to let her go – but he said no.
‘But the con is set for after her 18th,’ he explained. ‘I can’t stop her if she pays for it.
‘I assumed she would use her savings,’ he continued – but was shocked when he checked the account with her college fund and found some money missing.
‘I went to speak to my daughter about it and she admitted to using the money to pay for the convention,’ he recalled. ‘She bought herself plane tickets, her girlfriend plane tickets (other end of the country), both of their con tickets as well as booking a hotel.
‘The con is three or four days but she’s planning on staying for a couple weeks and making a vacation out of it,’ he added. ‘All in all she’s taken about 10k.’
The fuming father admitted he ‘lost it’ when he found out.
‘[I] demanded she cancel which fell on deaf ears,’ he said. ‘I tried to cancel for her but she won’t be refunded everything so I’m hesitant to do so.’
However, the man’s daughter is insisting it’s ‘her’ money and she can do whatever she wants with it.
‘[She] claims she still has enough for college and this is a once in a lifetime experience,’ he recalled. ‘I believe this has shown her extreme immaturity and inability to manage her future and money.
‘I am so incredibly angry that she would go and do this,’ he lamented.
However, the dad had somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the trip, telling his daughter she could ‘say goodbye to the rest of her college fund’ and locked the account.
”I’m now the only person with access. She’s said she’ll pay it back but it seems unlikely,’ he admitted.
He added his wife thinks he’s being harsh, and admitted his daughter has contributed $5,000, so she really only has to pay back the other $5,000, which his mother-in-law has since said she’ll pay back.
‘I think this just teaches her she can pay her way out of messes,’ he protested. ‘I was certain in my decision but everyone is acting like I’m the a**hole.’
Users were mixed in their responses, with some arguing she had been working and savings as well, so we was entitled to some of the funds.
‘Yet daughter contributed $5k to the account herself… she obviously earned that and saved it somehow,’ a user wrote. ‘So it seems like daughter does understand money somewhat, better than a lot of folks honestly.’
Others said the set up of the savings account – which his daughter appeared to have access too – also could have given her the wrong idea.
‘She was allowed to put her own funds into it and was given full access… I really don’t think it’s entirely on her for thinking of it as her own savings rather than a college fund given that’s how it was treated to begin with,’ another pointed out.
‘I just don’t see how anyone benefits from this,’ added another. ‘So now she can’t go to college without taking out student loans? Is that the end result here? That’s going to hurt her entire life over a stupid thing she did as a kid.
‘I think it’s fine to lock the account so she can’t spend it frivolously and it’s fine to want her to pay it back,’ they continued, ‘I just don’t see any long-term benefit to not using it for her college at all.’
