{"id":690840,"date":"2026-05-24T04:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T04:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/690840\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T04:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T04:59:17","slug":"theyre-playing-favorites-devastated-middle-child-blasts-parents-after-they-cant-afford-her-elite-school-tuition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/690840\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Can&#8217;t Afford Her Elite School Tuition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-807808\" class=\"size-full wp-image-807808\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Jealous sister\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Jealousy.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-807808\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>As a parent you want to give your kids every good thing in life, but that isn\u2019t always possible. Sometimes when you can\u2019t provide them with something they want, they simply can\u2019t understand why and they get upset with you, which can be heartbreaking.<\/p>\n<p>What would you do if your eldest daughter got a full scholarship to a private school, but when your middle daughter applied, she only got a partial scholarship and you couldn\u2019t afford to cover the rest?<\/p>\n<p>That is what happened to the parents in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AmItheAsshole\/comments\/xk3b8o\/aita_for_not_letting_my_middle_daughter_go_to\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">this story<\/a>, and their middle daughter doesn\u2019t understand that even with the partial scholarship, the private school is still very expensive and they simply can\u2019t afford it. While they would love to send her, they just don\u2019t make enough money at this time.<\/p>\n<p>They tried to explain it to her, but at this point, she is locking herself in her room and crying.<\/p>\n<p>I (45F) have 3 daughters, Laura(17F), Emma(15F) and Audrey(9F), however my youngest is not relevant to this story.<\/p>\n<p>This is quite an opportunity for Laura.<\/p>\n<p>2 years ago, my oldest Laura was accepted into a prestigious private high school in our area with a full scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>The school covered all school fee so we only had to pay for the books and additional field trips, which totals to around $1000 a year.<\/p>\n<p>Ouch, that is a lot of money.<\/p>\n<p>Now my middle daughter, Emma applied for scholarships this year, but unfortunately she only received a partial scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>The school fees after the partial scholarship ended up to be $18k a year.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes you just can\u2019t afford to do everything you want.<\/p>\n<p>I should also add here that our family is only lower middle class, and me and my husband\u2019s combined income is around $6000 a month, and all the expenses in the month, we have about $800-$1000 left to put to savings.<\/p>\n<p>If we end up sending Emma to the same school, the plan we made for our money will collapse.<\/p>\n<p>Kids often can\u2019t understand things like this. It is normal that she is resentful, even if the parents did nothing wrong.<\/p>\n<p>When I sat my daughter down to talk about this, she blew up at me and my husband for not looking at the effort she put into applying for the scholarship and tried to say that I was favoring my oldest and didn\u2019t care about her because she is the middle child.<\/p>\n<p>However this is quite the opposite, I care deeply about her education, it\u2019s just we cannot afford the extravagance the school requires us to pay.<\/p>\n<p>Give her some time to calm down. It will be hard, but she will get over this.<\/p>\n<p>Emma has locked herself up in the room she share with Laura, and refuse to let her to go in.<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea how to handle this, please if you have any advice please leave it in the comments.<\/p>\n<p>AITA?<\/p>\n<p>I feel terrible for the parents in this story. They are doing their best, but in this case, it just isn\u2019t enough to provide Emma with what she really wants. If handled correctly, they can use this as a life lesson for their kids. Learning about money and how to make difficult budgeting decisions could be just as valuable as the education she would get at the private school.<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed this story, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/2026\/05\/if-i-cant-go-nobody-can-why-some-siblings-treat-their-familys-social-life-like-a-personal-competition\/?utm_source=IN-ARTICLE&amp;utm_medium=IN-ARTICLE&amp;utm_campaign=IN-ARTICLE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">check out this post<\/a> about siblings who treat every social outing like a weird competition.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at what the people in the comments have to say about this difficult situation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"envelope 80 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/envelope-80.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Never Miss a Story<\/p>\n<p>Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>There isn\u2019t much that the family can do.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807800\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Comment 1 124 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" width=\"800\" height=\"301\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Comment-1-124.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I would think the school would do more to help them.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807801\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Comment 2 124 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" width=\"800\" height=\"416\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Comment-2-124.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Hopefully they can save money for college.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807802\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Comment 3 123 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" width=\"800\" height=\"584\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Comment-3-123.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>They can\u2019t ruin their finances for this, but it will definitely hurt.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807803\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Comment 4 122 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Comment-4-122.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This commenter thinks they should try harder to get Emma in.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807804\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"Comment 5 119 \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" title=\"\u201cThey\u2019re Playing Favorites:\u201d Devastated Middle Child Blasts Parents After They Cant Afford Her Elite School Tuition\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Comment-5-119.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kids just don\u2019t understand budgeting, and there is only so much you can do to explain it to them. Honestly, even if she 100% understands the reasons why she can\u2019t go, it will still hurt and be upsetting to her. She will get over it eventually, but it won\u2019t likely be soon.<\/p>\n<p>If there is anything that this family can do to make it possible to send her to the school, that would be ideal. Even working with the school to come up with additional scholarship or grant money could be a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/author\/mlevanduski\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7b0de68ba0b7f01186574269147dd87a003731a0eb6f04aba164215ad4e7e3f6.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo\" height=\"120\" width=\"120\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tCategories: <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/category\/life-drama\/family-and-relationships\/\" rel=\"category tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Family &amp; Relationships<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/category\/life-drama\/\" rel=\"category tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Life &amp; Drama<\/a>\t\t<br \/>Tags:  \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/aita\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">aita<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/budgets\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">budgets<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/children\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">children<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/disappointed-kids\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">disappointed kids<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/entity\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ENTITY<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/finances\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">finances<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/money\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">money<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/picture\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">picture<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/reddit\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reddit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/scholarship\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">scholarship<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/school\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">school<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/top\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">top<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shutterstock As a parent you want to give your kids every good thing in life, but that isn\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[37776,64,63,32442,99,502,337146,42389,1999,187,20246,2579,36763,20637,4048],"class_list":["post-690840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aita","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-budgets","tag-business","tag-children","tag-disappointed-kids","tag-entity","tag-finances","tag-money","tag-picture","tag-reddit","tag-scholarship","tag-school","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}