home situation

SureYWouldntYa

A lot of you here will be at college during the year, and at home for the summer right?

I'm unable to get a job as i live in such a rural area, but i make a few bob to tie me over doing stuff online. A friend who's 19 same as me is also home from college for the summer, and he travels nearly 40km 2 nights a week to work. His parents are making him pay €50 a week as rent. I'm all for fair dues, but he can't earn much more than €120 for his two nights work as well as the cost of petrol and upkeep of his car.

Would you think it's fair of his parents to charge him, he also pays his own way through college, which he is considering quiting because he won't be able to afford it, and he is just over the grant limit but has his fees paid. His parents aren't that bad off, my father and his father have the same job ie same money. I do plenty round the house so I don't feel like I'm sponging from my parents, they're just giving me the opportunity to go to college and make the most of his life

TL;DR, should someone going to college under a certain age have to pay rent at home during summer ?

wnolan1992

IMO, it really depends on the family. The parents are completely entitled to ask for rent if they want. I mean, if he wanted, he could easily find a place to live in a more urban area to get more regular work My rent for the summer in Limerick is 30 quid a week because landlords are just happy to have student houses occupied during the summer.

When I live at home during the summer I generally take one bill and pay it.

Really I don't think there's a standard "have to" here. It's sort of an individual case-by-case thing that needs to be thrashed out between him and his parents.

Jamie Starr

Usually parents are squirrelling away some if not all of the rent you pay them - my brother paid rent to my parents for a year after dropping out and got it all back in fees when he wanted to start a new course. I'm sure if your friend becomes unable to fund his studies his parents will be there help out - bankrolling a college lifestyle is a different matter.

It's a beneficial way of administering little doses of reality, and it's necessary in most situations. I've had at least one job every year since I was seventeen and I'm still shaking off the cryogenic sleep of university life - the realisation that there is at least a small portion of life constantly devoted to expense is an unpleasant one. One of the best lessons you can learn, and learn at as early an age as possible, is to earn money and spend it without greed or bitterness.

ps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMj0t7sds7I

LoonyLovegood

I don't pay my parents rent, but that's because I don't have a job. My sister has one, and she gives them 10% of her wages. She's saving for college, so this way she's still paying something but she can save too.

Macavity.

Given his parents apparent financial situation (they seem like they're doing alright) they come across as assholes. But I'd wager they're not as well off as you may think.