Most parents would dip into their personal savings when it comes to funding their children’s education as they know it’s the only way to ensure their kids secure good paying jobs in the future.
A Singaporean woman recently took to social media to lament about how her parents refused to pay for her university fees but yet still maintained the belief that she still has to provide financially for them in their old age.
SG woman says parents refuse to pay her uni fees
In a rather lengthy Reddit post, the OP wrote she had chosen to pursue her studies at a local university to ease her parents’ financial burden. However, they dropped a bombshell on her by saying they won’t be footing her university fees.
This was a shock to me. Westerners may not understand, but I feel that it’s a common consensus here in Singapore that parents pay for our education, then we pay them back through monthly allowance and filial piety, Asian Confucian values, etc.
“After the initial shock, I made peace with the situation and trusted that I would be able to handle it in the future,” she wrote.
Bragged to friends about her uni offers
The OP revealed that she later received offer letters from both the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
However, there was little for her to be happy over as her parents took the opportunity to brag to friends about how their daughter managed to snag offers from two prestigious universities.
“My parents keep bragging to their friends and it is clear that they will also want me to support them financially in the future. I feel that this is not fair to me because haven’t we decided we are doing things the way the West does?
“And whenever my parents use me to show off to their friends on how I managed to get into both Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, I feel more mad at the fact that they are using me as something to show off without contributing,” she said.
The OP also wrote about how she was verballed abused by her parents when she asked to go for tuition classes for her Physics subject during her junior college (JC) days.
“I got cursed at basically every day for the expensive fees (S$45/h once a week), and whenever I wanted things, my father would say, ‘Ask your tutor to pay,’ etc.
“But the thing is even in J1 when I had no tuition, my life was exactly the same too; like in secondary school, he would say if in JC I don’t have tuition, he would be able to spend a bit more on us and take us on trips, etc., but of course that didn’t happen.”
Afraid parents might sue for financial support
Aside from not knowing how she was going to fund her university studies, the OP also expressed worry that her parents might drag her to court in the future to ensure she financially supports them.
The thing is, I’m scared of the Parents’ Maintenance Act too; they can and I’m guessing will be very willing to sue me. Yes, they may not be willing to put S$100k (approx. RM330,000) towards my education, but I know they will be willing to put S$200k (RM663,000) towards a future lawyer to demand maintenance from me.
“If you think I’m exaggerating, I really swear I am not. They are that exact type of person,” she wrote.
For those unaware, the Parents’ Maintenance Act is a law that allows parents aged 60 and above to “claim maintenance in the form of monthly allowances or a lump-sum payment” from their children who are financially capable.
What would you do if you were in the OP’s shoes? Share with us in the comments!
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