step-dad1

To NikkiiL, kelsmom, thumper1, kayf, lje62, and all of you who think marrying someone with children should automatically mean you help put those children through college, I say why?

I have 2 step-children who will turn 17, and 19 this year, and the first will be starting college in the fall. My wife and I have been married 2 years.

Why should I have to help pay for college that my wife and her ex did absolutely nothing to plan for, for the last 18 years? To address lje62, it's not that i don't expect to contribute to thier well being; I help make sure they have food, clothing, a roof over thier head, they're both insured on both our cars, and I got them cell phones, which they didn't have when I met their mother. I help make sure they continue living in one of the best school districts in the area.

They were living with thier mother and I, they're now living with thier father. We all three have above average incomes. I get no say in how the kids are raised, or whether or not their grandparents bought them cars, or whether they are asked to pay for anything themselves, or are asked to be responsible for anything, or whether they're expected to do anything around the house, or whether their are any consequences for not doing things they should.

Why should I have to pay college for 2 kids who I get no say in the parenting of? Why should I have to work to put 2 kids through college, who aren't willing to work for it themselves?

Taking care of their well being, is making sure they have all the necessities, college is not a necessity, it's a luxury. I haven't been able to afford to finish supplying myself that luxury, and we are still working on finishing paying my wife's student loans, and all of you think I should put my financial future in jeopardy to put 2 people through college who are only going because it's the expected thing now?