Stepdad refuses to pay for his stepchild's college at the expense of his kid's college funds: 'My wife says it’s not fair that my child will have enough money for 4 years at college and her child will not.'

Is his stepkid's education his responsibility?

When couples get married, they often combine all of their finances. They don't differentiate between his and her money: they make all their financial decisions as a team, which helps them build wealth better than they would if they kept everything separate.

It's easier to combine finances without issue when you are marrying for the first time to someone who doesn't have kids. If you have kids and are marrying someone who also has kids, things can get a little fuzzy financially. A stepparent might not feel comfortable using their hard-earned cash to fund their stepchildren's extravagant extracurricular activities. They might want to keep finances separate so their money is used only to support their kid, and vice versa. After all, if their partner is receiving child support from their child's other parent, it might get murky if they have access to that money and use it to support the child's stepsibling.

via Zachary Delorenzo

_{Stepdad, who doesn't want to give more money to his stepkid for their college fund.}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
The stepdad in this story is feeling complicated about giving more money to his stepkid so that they can go through college debt-free. He knows they've received a lot of money from their late father's benefits, but not all of it has gone into their college fund. It has been used to support his family, including his kids.
Am I the bad guy for not wanting to pay for more college for my stepchild than my kid will receive?

via u/stuck-n_a-box
via u/stuck-n_a-box
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via u/stuck-n_a-box
via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

_{Two babies, who have already have money put aside for their college educations.}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
via u/stuck-n_a-box
via u/stuck-n_a-box
via u/stuck-n_a-box
It's not unheard of for college kids to graduate a semester early. They could graduate debt-free if they take the maximum number of credits each semester.
via u/stuck-n_a-box
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via u/stuck-n_a-box
via Victoria Heath

_{A college student, whose parents can only afford to send her to 3.5 semesters of college.}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}