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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I am the OR of that post. I was awarded a full scholarship for grad school but no funds for living expenses. I took out high interest credit cards to supplement. It was stressful at the time. I asked my parents if they would be willing to give me an interest free loan. They had several hundred thousand dollars in bank but declined my request. I won't go into the details of what their rationale was, I will just say that money was not earmarked for anything and stayed in bank collecting interest. I made a note of their stinginess (at least in my eyes) and moved on. Plenty of similar situations with them and I still maintain a good relationship. They don't owe me anything as an adult, but the question is what do I owe them as adults? [/quote]

It all comes down to what you think family is.  I think family is a community where you care for one another, love each other, and support each other emotionally.  If your parents are destitute and unable to support themselves, I would certainly think that it is your responsibility to care for them.  They raised you.  They are family.

Personally, I don't see your parents' choice as stinginess, but I have a really strong feeling that adults should support themselves from my own experience of supporting myself, of which I am very proud.  If my son gets a full scholarship to graduate school, I would help him come up with a plan to work and save and budget for his living expenses during that time.  I would expect him to work to help fund his living expenses, and take out student loans for what he was not able to earn during school itself.  I would not offer him an interest-free loan so that he did not have to work or economize.

I don't think the fact that you experienced some mild financial stress during graduate school to be a reason to cut your parents off.  I'm not saying you have to support them financially - I have no idea what their situation is - but I hardly think that financial stress as an adult is a reason for you to cut them off.  [/quote]

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