Well here’s one more thing you can blame your parents for: According to a recent article in Inside Higher Education, divorced and remarried parents contibute significantly less than parents that are still married do. According to a sub-sample of 2.400 students studied between 1995-1996, students who’s parents were still married only had to contribute 23% to their education while children of divorced parents who were either single or remarried were responsible fot 46%.

While this is enough to drive you back into family therapy, it seems pretty obvious why this might be the case. Single parents earn less, fathers not required to pay child support after the age of 18, and combined families that involve multiple half-siblings that directly result in a larger financial burden (i.e. if your dad is paying child support to your mom for your younger siblings, is remarried, and you have half-brothers and sisters too, that means there’s less money to throw around at yoru college degree).

Not cool, not fair, but still a reality. So what does that mean for you? Expect to request financial aid, look for work-study programs on your campus, and by all means bypass that unpaid internship for a part-time job if at all possible.