It's commonly known that getting an education is a very acceptable way for a person to lead their life. And while that can be true for many, for others, it might be something that ruins life instead of making it better.
That's what happened to today's original poster's daughter. Luckily, she ended up finding a way out of it, but not without her mother's help. Yet, said help ended up being the instigator of drama in their family, and soon they were asking strangers online, "Who is the jerk here?"
More info: Reddit
Education can be a lifesaver, but not when you end up with no prospects and crushing debt
Image credits: tan4ikk / Freepik (not the actual photo)
That's exactly what happened to the young woman from today's story – her history degree turned out to be useless and drowned her in loans
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
She went to university because her mom pressured her to – something she's felt guilty about ever since
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
So, after she got insurance after her husband's passing, she decided to help her daughter with her debt
Image credits: Jolly-Prompt-6129
But when her son learned about it, he demanded the same amount in cash
After the OP’s husband passed away, she received a life insurance payout. She decided to use a portion of it to pay off her daughter’s student loans. You see, back in the day, she pressured her to go to university, which she didn’t really want to do. And as you know, universities cost a pretty penny.
According to 2025 statistics, student loan debt in the United States totals $1.814 trillion. That means that the average federal student loan debt balance is approximately $39,075, and the total average balance may be somewhere around $42,673. These numbers are hard to wrap our heads around, aren’t they?
The worst thing about these huge loans is that they can easily derail one’s life. For instance, it can make it harder for one to purchase or even rent a home, decrease their net worth, negatively impact their credit score, and many other things.
In fact, that's what happened to the OP’s daughter – her life was heavily impacted by her student debt. She got a degree in history, which didn't equip her with a high-paying job, which meant she was stuck in a never-ending cycle of making little and paying little towards the loans.
Years later, she got back in school and got a law degree, which finally gave her a good job, but doubled her debt. Essentially, her mom has always felt guilty over pressuring her daughter to get the degree in the first place, so she chose to pay off her loans with the insurance she got.
Image credits: jcomp / Freepik (not the actual photo)
We think it was a pretty nice thing for the mom to do. But little did they know, this wholesome act would cause a little drama in their family. When the woman’s younger son, a high school dropout, got a whiff of this transaction, he wanted something similar. To be more specific, he demanded that his mom give him the same amount of money in cash.
Yet, the mom refused to do so, saying the money for her sister was an educational expense. And since he never got an education, he doesn’t get it. Plus, the fact that he tends not to be so good with money doesn’t help his case. Yet, that doesn’t mean that the mom didn’t feel any guilt refusing money to her child, so this forced her to ask online – is she a big jerk here?
Some people thought she wasn’t – she was only helping her daughter to get out of a situation her son didn’t need to get out of. Others weren’t so sympathetic. They thought that the mom clearly showed her favoritism of her kids – one she put a lot of hope into and sent to school, while she let the other one drop out while he was still a minor.
So, in their eyes, she should find a way to make up for her son; it doesn’t have to be financial, but something needs to happen, as the current situation is only waiting to explode even more in the future.
What do you think – was the mom right not to give money to her son? Share your takes with us!
She refused to give it to him, since he was never academically gifted, which some netizens thought was a clear sign of her favoritism towards her daughter
