I came from a rich family. My parents let me flounder on my own in college. Never gave me a dime and I had earn everything I ever had. When I was 25 and my GF got pregnant, my parents said, “Well, you’re a responsible adult, you’ll figure it out.”
For me? There was no safety net. A year on food stamps, paying child support, working three jobs and being clinically depressed was me “figuring it out.”
At no time did they ever step in to help me financially. When I moved out for my freshman year was their idea of kicking me out of the nest.
I’ve got to ask. But did you consider your parents rich or just just upper middle class. I have a few rich friends and nothing like what happened to you would ever happen to them. First, they would not need to ask for money. That comes from a trust where they get an allowance.
I had one friend who feigned being broke because he would spend all his allowance before the next disbursement arrived. And would borrow money from friends.
In each case their job was assured. they were graduating into the family business or to manage its wealth. Or start their own business with financial help from the trust.
Sad to say, you have assholes for parents. Sure, I can see them reasonably thinking that making you support yourself in college was a fine idea. But providing no support that would benefit their own infant grandchild? No.
My experience having observed rich friends I knew from my high school and Ivy league college days has been that, when it comes to their own children, this is the exception, not the rule.
Yes, however the thing with safety nets is people typically avoid having to fall back on them. I could go broke and fall back to living with my elderly mother, but you can bet your ass I'd rather avoid that.
A rich kid might be able to ask their parents for more cash, but the embarassment and scolding that might come with that is likely enough to get a lot of rich kids to avoid the situation by choosing to live within the artificially imposed bounds of their allotted budget.
For me? There was no safety net. A year on food stamps, paying child support, working three jobs and being clinically depressed was me “figuring it out.”
At no time did they ever step in to help me financially. When I moved out for my freshman year was their idea of kicking me out of the nest.