Judge: Parents must pay the college tuition of their estranged adult daughter
The estranged parents of a 21-year-old New Jersey woman have been ordered to pay her college tuition, but they say they won't write any checks until they form a relationship again with their daughter.
A Camden County, New Jersey, judge used a legal precedent in the state that says divorced parents may be required to help pay for their child's education, regardless of the child's age. The judge says Caitlyn Ricci's divorced parents, Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey, will have to pay $16,000 to Temple University in Philadelphia so their daughter can continue her studies.
McGarvey said she can't believe her daughter sued her, or that Caitlyn's grandparents, McGarvey's former in-laws, are paying for her lawyer. "From the time Caitlyn was a teenager she was a challenging child, but I think all teenagers are," she told WPVI-TV. "I think she just wants money. She wants us to pay for her education. She feels this is owed to her."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
McGarvey and Ricci are appealing the ruling. They have not paid the tuition bill, which is now overdue.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Massacre in the favela: Rio’s police take on the gangsIn the Spotlight The ‘defence operation’ killed 132 suspected gang members, but could spark ‘more hatred and revenge’
-
The John Lewis ad: touching, or just weird?Talking Point This year’s festive offering is full of 1990s nostalgia – but are hedonistic raves really the spirit of Christmas?
-
Codeword: November 15, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
