The distraught father of the 21-year-old girl who successfully sued her parents for college tuition is working with legislators to write a bill which would prevent other parents from this happening again.
"Most nights before I fall asleep, I have tears in my eyes thinking about the difficulty my family is going through," Michael Ricci told Yahoo! Parenting. "My daughter is suing her mother and me for $16,000 towards college tuition, and a judge has ruled in her favor. My daughter moved out, and I only ever see her in court. It's certainly not what I wanted for my family."
In New Jersey a married couple is not required to pay for their child's college education, but divorced parents must contribute, Yahoo! Parenting reported. Ricci called this law, which he is trying to change, "ridiculous."
Ricci and his ex-wife wanted to settle the issue in court by offering to pay for college tuition if their daughter transferred to an in-state college, which would be cheaper. His daughter currently attends Temple University in Pennsylvania.
The court ruled that the 21-year-old's parents must pay for her tuition at the out-of-state private school, despite the fact that she had not spoken to her parents in about two years, the father explained to Yahoo! Parenting.
"Maura and I are Caitlyn's parents, so we want to have input and involvement in her decisions," he said to Yahoo! Parenting. "Caitlyn, her attorney and her grandparents [Ricci's parents who she is living with] want money. That's it. The judge asked me in court on Monday if I had a college plan for my daughter. I presented the plan that includes financial help along with moving home and attending counseling. He asked the same of my daughter. Her response, 'I want them to pay for college.' The entire thing makes me sick to my stomach."
Most of Michael Ricci's angst in the situation is against his parents who are "fostering and even financing this debacle," he said.
Since the ruling where a judge said Ricci and his ex-wife will have to pay for their daughter's college tuition, Caitlyn's lawyer, Andrew Rochester, provided the following statement to Yahoo! Parenting:
Since Caitlyn has moved in with her grandparents she has gotten into no trouble and her grades have gone up. She is a solid A/B college student and works a 30-hour job. Mr. Ricci should be proud of her accomplishments instead of disparaging because he doesn't want to pay for her education. It really doesn't matter if Caitlyn was going to Temple , Rutgers, Montclair State, or Harvard, Mr. Ricci has made clear he wasn't going to pay no matter what school Caitlyn went to. Mr. Ricci and Ms. McGarvey, based on their incomes, certainly have ability to pay, and we gave them options not to pay cash out of hand and they decided not to avail themselves of those options.
