<p>An NJ senior (apparently an 18 year old runaway) is suing her parents to pay her HS tuition bill, access to college fund and other expenses related to college: </p>
<p><a href=“N.J. high school student sues her parents for tuition”>N.J. high school student sues her parents for tuition;
<p>Something’s missing in this story.
I don’t think she has a case because I don’t think that parents should be required to pay for their child’s college tuition, but something’s missing. Most parents don’t throw out their 18 year old and most 18 year olds don’t actually voluntarily leave. </p>
<p>For that reason, I won’t comment on this story specifically. </p>
<p>I live in the NY/NJ/CT tristate area and the reports in the evening news state the 18 year old senior ran away (Parents version) or was “kicked out” (teenager version) for not following household rules regarding curfews, chores, boyfriend issues. The father claimed the family housing the teen (the attorney of record as well) are interfering in family issues and that they are distraught over the choices the 18 year old is making. Also included in the suit is a request for funding current living expenses and private school tuition. </p>
<p>What an absolute nightmare. The family “hosting” this girl just might have ulterior motives (i.e. the request for current living expenses). Unless there was some sort of physical abuse, they have stepped way over the line in my opinion. Teenagers can be very rebellious and parents need to stand their ground on family rules, no matter how unreasonable the teenager might think those rules are. The girl would have been off to college in a few months if she had stayed home. Was all this really necessary? </p>
<p>Not enough facts. I’m not sure what their legal obligations are once she turns 18, though.</p>
<p>Advocates are saying this generally goes to mediation.</p>
<p>^^^^
And that makes good sense. But the issue of who picks up the $12,000 in legal fees that the host family has wracked up on her behalf is going to be a hotly contested item!</p>
<p>I left home when I was 17, almost 18.
No abuse, I just wanted to " do my own thing".
I moved in with an older (21) boyfriend.
I was soo mature. 
I dont think the girl has a case, unless she actually was kicked out.
I think even though she was 18, she should stay until she finishes high school.
I wondering if there was an attempt at counseling or therapy before it got to this point.</p>
<p>Don’t have all the facts but upon reading a paragraph or two in the story I leaned towards supporting the parents, UNTIL…</p>
<p>the article further explained that among the punitive actions taken by the parents (to allegedly set her straight) was to CANCEL tuition payments for their daughter’s private high school. Huh? How’s that supposed to help? Story says she’s an honor student.</p>
<p>The news report in NY also said the friend’s father/lawyer thinks since she is an honor student she should be able to go the a good college for biomedical engineering and the news referenced University of Vermont her first choice. Should be interesting when more facts come out. Maybe the lawyer/friend should adopt her and pay her way. The news also said she doesn’t want to be emancipated because staying dependent requires the parents to support her. Better be careful if your kids have friends whose parents are lawyers don’t get on their wrong side lol</p>
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<p>Some reports I’ve picked up include legal commentary stating that parents can actually be compelled to pay for an 18+ year old young adult child’s college education IF it was part of a divorce settlement. However, since that isn’t applicable in this situation as the parents of this 18 year old are still together, every one of them has stated what I suspected…the D has no legal case and the judge is likely to toss the case when it reaches him/her unless there’s something much more to the story. </p>
<p>Since she’s legally an adult at 18, she has the legal rights and responsibilities as such. That includes no longer having the right to obligate her parents to fund her expenses…whether college or living expenses. </p>
<p>While I feel that parents do have some moral responsibility to do so, it is conditioned on the child having demonstrated reasonable academic promise, maturity, and requisite gratitude & respect for the parental gift. Since it seems she’s violated the last part by suing her own parents and on other grounds if the parents’ allegations are as alleged…her parents IMO aren’t obligated to pay for her college at this point. </p>
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<p>While harsh, parents are within their rights to withdraw their child from private school. I’ve read some commentary saying “She could always attend a local public high school for her last semester free”. </p>
<p>I agree that there is certainly more information to come, but I am highly suspicious of the host family. Am I to understand that it is a member of the host family who is acting as her lawyer? And that this person is claiming over $12,000 worth of legal fees are due to date? If I am understanding correctly then this is pretty self serving.</p>
<p>The father of the girl is a police officer so he probably has the bar set pretty high as far as behavior is concerned. But for some reason in this generation that is considered a negative. In my parent’s generation it was the norm. We didn’t get away with too much.</p>
<p>If you look at the stories, the school (a Catholic school) is basically siding with the kid. Before the kid left home, the school had made a report to the state’s child protection agency regarding conduct by both parents that teachers observed. The school has said it will not kick the student out for failure to pay tuition, but it intends to pursue the parents for the tuition. Also, it seems that the child is not exactly requesting that the parents pay for her college, so much as to make available for her college a savings fund that had always been set aside as her college fund, which is of course in the parents’ name.</p>
<p>"Maybe the lawyer/friend should adopt her and pay her way. "</p>
<p>Methinks that’s never going to happen. This “saint” is requesting $12,000 of legal fees he claims he is entitled to. Sounds like an underworked lawyer who had a potential client show up at his doorstep.</p>
<p>I realized that there is a thread on this already, can you close this one move my comment to that one?</p>
<p>Or maybe he’s a nice guy who saw his daughter’s friend being treated shabbily by her parents. There are not enough facts to make such judgments–although the school’s position is interesting.</p>
<p>So maybe we should close the thread until the facts are released. No different than every other topic on these boards.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with an in-state public university for Rachel Canning? Abuse allegations unfounded upon investigation. </p>
<p>I didn’t read the article, but as a single parent in Indiana, I’m very familiar with the child support laws here. Until recently Indiana was one of a very few states that required child support until the age of 21 unless it was proven that the child was not enrolled in any academic program and was self-supporting. The law was changed not long ago to make it more in line with the majority of states. Child support is now required until the age of 19, however the custodial parent can seek an additional college support ruling if the child is enrolled in college and terms were not included in the divorce. I went to court with my sons father about a year ago to get a court rulting that he’s obligated to contribute to my son’s college costs (the spreadsheet they use to determine each person’s financial obligation does assume that the child will have some responsibility for costs as well as both parents). My case was pretty straight forward since my son’s father had already agreed to help with costs, I just wanted legal protection since, sometimes, he doesn’t manage his money very well. - Although this is really a legal action between parents and is intended to prevent one parent with being burdened with the total costs, it makes me wonder if a good lawyer couldn’t make the argument that this indicates that parents do have a legal responsibiity to contribute to the costs if a child were to bring suit here.</p>
<p>I read in the comments section of a news website (I have no idea if it is true) that the crux of the argument is that New Jersey is one of the minority of states that will compel divorced parents to pay for college. This case argues that in this instance such a public policy should be extended… A slippery slope in my opinion.</p>
<p>What I do know is that most states will not compel the payment of tuition in the event of divorce. Of the states that do allow tuition to be included in divorce decrees, in-state public university tuition is normally the maximum that will be mandated by a court - unless you voluntarily agree to a larger payment as part of the settlement. I have also seen that if there is a true financial reversal for the parent who agreed to fund private college after the settlement, courts will normally only require payment of in-state tuition. I don’t see how the University of Vermont OOS tuition will be awarded, but then I am not a lawyer in NJ. </p>